The Fly-hunt 



truly dead, when the Wasp brings them to 

 her larva. Should some of them still retain 

 a remnant of life, a few days or even hours 

 put an end to their agony. Consequently, for 

 lack of talent in the use of her dagger or for 

 some other reason, the murderess kills her 

 victims outright. 



In view of this fact, that the prey is quite 

 dead at the moment when it is carried off, who 

 would not admire the logic of the Bembex' 

 procedure? How methodical and consistent 

 everything is in the actions of the cunning 

 Wasp ! As the provisions cannot keep be- 

 yond two or three days without going bad, 

 they must not be stored entire in the first 

 stages of an infancy which will last at least a 

 fortnight; and the hunting and distribution 

 must necessarily be done day by day, bit by 

 bit, as the larva grows up. The first ration, 

 the one that receives the egg, will last longer 

 than the others; the budding grub will take 

 several days to eat its flesh. It must there- 

 fore be small, otherwise the joint would be- 

 gin to putrify before it was all finished. This 

 joint therefore will not be a bulky Gad-fly or 

 a corpulent Bombylius, but rather a tiny 

 Sphasrophoria, or something similar, making 

 a dainty meal for a larva which is still so 

 297 



