The Hunting Wasps 



Instead of a precise fact, really worthy of 

 science, we have a riddle to read. Let us con- 

 tinue to examine the riddle. Different species 

 of the Crabro family are so like the Social 

 Wasps in size, in shape and in their black-and- 

 yellow livery as to deceive any eye unversed 

 in the delicate distinctions of entomology. 

 To any one who has not made a special study 

 of such subjects a Crabro is a Common Wasp. 

 May It not have happened that the English 

 observer, looking at things from a height and 

 thinking unworthy of strict investigation the 

 tiny fact which nevertheless was to cor- 

 roborate his transcendental theories and help 

 to bestow reason upon an animal, made a mis- 

 take In his turn, but one in the other direction 

 and quite pardonable, by taking a Wasp for a 

 Crabro? I would almost dare swear so; 

 and here are my reasons. 



Wasps, if not always, at least often bring 

 up their family on animal food; but, instead 

 of accumulating a provision of game in each 

 cell beforehand, they distribute the food to 

 the larvce, one by one and several times a day ; 

 they feed them with their mouths, as the 

 father and mother feed young birds with 

 their beaks. And the mouthful consists of 

 a fine mash of chewed insects, ground between 

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