Advanced Theories 



the mandibles of the Wasp nurse. The 

 favourite insects for the preparation of this 

 infants' food are Diptera, especially Common 

 Flies; when fresh meat can be had, it is a 

 windfall eagerly turned to account. Who 

 has not seen Wasps boldly enter our kitchens 

 or pounce upon the meat hanging in the 

 butchers' shops, to cut off a scrap that suits 

 them and carry it away forthwith, as spolia 

 opima for the use of the grubs? When the 

 half-closed shutters admit a streak of sun- 

 light to the floor of a room, where the House- 

 fly is taking a luxurious nap or polishing her 

 wings, who has not seen the Wasp rush in,, 

 swoop down upon the Fly, crush her in her 

 mandibles and make off with the booty? 

 Once again, a morsel reserved for the car^ 

 nivorous nurselings. 



The prey is dismembered now on the spot 

 where captured, now on the way, now at the 

 nest. The wings, which possess no nutritive 

 value, are cut off and rejected; the legs, which 

 are poor in juices, are also sometimes dis* 

 dained. There remains a mutilated corpse^ 

 head, thorax, abdomen, united or separatedj 

 which the Wasp chews and rechews to re^ 

 duce It to the pap beloved of the larvae. I 

 have tried to take the place of the nurses im 

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