The Nest-building Odynerus 



leases the grub whose rump she has been 

 chewing, it is sometimes therefore inert, like 

 those intended for the cells, and sometimes 

 endowed with almost as much activity as the 

 untouched grubs, from which it differs only 

 by the absence of its anal pimple, its sup- 

 port which reminds us of a cripple sitting in 

 a bowl. 



I examine the helpless ones. The anal 

 blister has disappeared, nor can I make it 

 reappear by squeezing the tip of the abdomen 

 with my fingers. For the rest, in the place 

 of this blister my pocket-lens shows me torn, 

 rugged tissues; the end of the intestine is in 

 tatters. Every elsewhere all around are 

 bruises and contusions, but no gaping 

 wounds. It is with the contents of the 

 blister then that the Odynerus so deliciously 

 slakes her thirst. When she munches the 

 last two or three segments, she is milking 

 the grub after a fashion; by means of the 

 pressure, which favours the paralysis of the 

 abdomen, she makes the rectal humour flow 

 into the pocket, which she then rips open in 

 order to sip the contents. 



What is this humour? Some special 



product, some mixture of nitrobenzene? I 



cannot say for certain. I know only that 



the insect employs it in self-defence. When 



215 



