The Hunting Wasps 



Sphex, suddenly shaking off her torpor, begins 

 to move about violently, as though to call her 

 long-numbed hmbs to life. The abdomen is 

 alternately lengthened and shortened; the 

 legs are abruptly extended, then bent, then 

 extended again; and their different joints are 

 stiffened with an effort. The insect, using its 

 head and the tip of its abdomen as a lever, 

 with the ventral surface underneath, repeat- 

 edly distends with vigorous jerks the joint of 

 the neck and that of the peduncle connecting 

 the abdomen and the thorax. At last its 

 efforts are crowned with success; and, after 

 a quarter of an hour of these rough gym- 

 nastics, the scabbard, tugged in every direc- 

 tion, rips open at the neck, at the point where 

 the legs are attached and near the peduncle of 

 the abdomen, in short, wherever the mobility 

 of the parts has permitted any violent dis- 

 location to take place. 



All these rents in the veil that is being cast 

 result in a number of irregular shreds, where- 

 of the largest envelops the abdomen and runs 

 up the back of the thorax. To this shred be- 

 long the wing-cases. A second shred covers 

 the head. Lastly, each leg has its own 

 sheath, more or less badly treated near the 

 base. The large shred, which in itself forms 

 no 



