The Wisdom of Instinct 



our slaughter-houses. The Sphex takes her 

 time and wields her lancet with a deliberation 

 which favours accuracy of aim. So far, the 

 observer has nothing to complain of; but the 

 prey touches the ground with its breast and 

 belly and exactly what happens underneath 

 escapes his eye. As for interfering and lift- 

 ing the Ephippiger a little, so as to see better, 

 that must not be thought of: the murderess 

 would resheathe her weapon and retire. The 

 act that follows is easy to observe. After 

 stabbing the thorax, the tip of the abdomen 

 appears under the victim's neck, which the 

 operator forces open by pressing the nape. 

 At this point, the sting probes with marked 

 persistency, as if the prick administered here 

 were more effective than elsewhere. One 

 would be inclined to think that the nerve-cen- 

 tre attacked is the lower part of the oeso- 

 phageal chain; but the continuance of move- 

 ment in the mouth-parts — the mandibles, 

 jaws and palpi — controlled by this seat of 

 innervation shows that such is not the case. 

 Through the neck, the Sphex reaches simply 

 the ganglia of the thorax, or at any rate the 

 first of them, which is more easily accessible 

 through the thin skin of the neck than through 

 the integuments of the chest. 

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