The Mason-Wasps 



one time in front, as game for the family, at 

 another behind, as a little addition to their 

 own diet. The honey with which I serve 

 them on spikes of lavender does not make 

 them forget this horrible treat. The tac- 

 tics employed in obtaining it, though the 

 same in the general aspect, vary in detail. 

 The larva is always seized by the hinder end 

 and the stings are administered in succession 

 from back to front, on the ventral surface. 

 Sometimes the abdomen only is attacked, 

 sometimes the thorax also, when the victim 

 is deprived of all movement. Evidently 

 the object of these stings is not the immo- 

 bility of the larva, since the latter can move 

 quite well, ambling along, wounded though 

 it be, when the sting has not gone higher 

 than the abdomen. Inertia is indispensable 

 only in the case of victuals intended for the 

 cells. If the Odynerus is working on her 

 own behalf and' not for her family, it mat- 

 ters little to her whether the grubs whose 

 dainties she covets struggle or not; it is 

 enough if all resistance in the part to be 

 exploited is abolished by paralysis. This 

 paralysis, moreover, is quite accessory; and 

 each huntress neglects or practises it at will, 

 bearing more or less forward, without any 

 fixed rule. When the sated Odynerus re- 

 214 



