CHAPTER VII 



ADVANCED THEORIES 



THE species of the genus Sphex are fairly 

 numerous, but are for the most part 

 strangers to my country. As far as I know, 

 the French fauna numbers only three, all 

 lovers of the hot sun of the olive district, 

 namely, the Yellow-winged Sphex {Sphex 

 flavipennis) , the White-edged Sphex {S. 

 albisecta) and the Languedocian Sphex {S. 

 occitanica) . Now it is not without a lively 

 interest that the observer notices in the case 

 of these three freebooters a choice of pro- 

 visions which is in strict accordance with the 

 rigid laws of entomological classification. 

 To feed their grubs, all three choose solely 

 Orthoptera.^ The first hunts Crickets, the 

 second Locusts, the third Ephipplgers. 



The prey selected have such great outward 

 differences one from the other that to asso- 

 ciate them and grasp their similarity calls for 



^The order of insects including Earwigs, Cockroaches, 

 Mantes, Crickets, Locusts and Grasshoppers. — Trans' 

 lator's Note. 



"5 



