The Hunting Wasps 



however, it can keep alive for two or three 

 weeks, a period more than long enough to 

 allow the egg to hatch and the larva to grow. 

 The paralysing of the victim therefore has 

 a twofold result: first, the living dish remains 

 motionless and the safety of the delicate grub 

 is not endangered; secondly, the meat keeps 

 good a long time and thus ensures wholesome 

 food for the larva. Man's logic, enlight- 

 ened by science, could discover nothing better. 



My two other Ephippigers stung by the 

 Sphex were kept in the dark with food. To 

 feed inert insects, hardly differing from 

 corpses except by the perpetual waving of 

 their long antennae, seems at first an impossi- 

 bility; still, the play of the mouth-parts gave 

 me some hope and I tried. My success ex- 

 ceeded my anticipations. There was no 

 question here, of course, of giving them a 

 lettuce-leaf or any other piece of green stuff 

 on which they might have browsed in their 

 normal state; they were feeble valetudina- 

 rians, who needed spoon-feeding, so to speak, 

 and supporting with liquid nourishment. I 

 used sugar-and-water. 



Laying the insect on its back, I place a drop 

 of the sugary fluid on its mouth with a straw. 

 The palpi at once begin to stir; the mandi- 

 i86 



