The Hunting Wasps 



very few, if any, could vie with these clever 

 ones in cleverness. 



Ah, I now understand why the Sphex does 

 not use her sting to injure the cervical gan- 

 glia ! A drop of poison injected here, at the 

 centre of vital force, would destroy the whole 

 nervous system ; and death would follow soon 

 after. But it is not death that the huntress 

 wishes to obtain; the larvae have not the least 

 use for dead game, for a corpse, in short, 

 smelling of corruption; and all that she wants 

 to bring about is a lethargy, a passing torpor, 

 which will put a stop to the victim's resistance 

 during the carting process, this resistance 

 being difficult to overcome and moreover dan- 

 gerous for the Sphex. The torpor is ob- 

 tained by a method known in laboratories of 

 experimental physiology: compression of the 

 brain. The Sphex acts like a Flourens,^ who, 

 laying bare an animal's brain and bearing 

 upon the cerebral mass, forthwith suppresses 

 intelligence, will, sensibility and movement. 

 The pressure is removed; and everything re- 

 appears. Even so do the remains of the 

 Ephippiger's life reappear, as the lethargic 

 effects of a skilfully-directed pressure pass off. 



1 Cf. p. 45 n. Flourens' Experiences sur le syst^me 

 nerveux were first published in 1825. — Translator's 

 Note. 



176 



