The Leucospes 



like a bow bending round at one point. It is 

 made up of thirteen segments, including the 

 head. This head, which is very small com- 

 pared with the rest of the body, displays no 

 mouth-part under the lens; at most you see a 

 faint red streak, which calls for the miscro- 

 scope. You then distinguish two delicate man- 

 dibles, very short and fashioned into a sharp 

 point. A small round mouth, with a fine 

 piercer on the right and left, is all that the 

 powerful instrument reveals. As for my best 

 single magnifying-glasses, they show me no- 

 thing at all. On the other hand, we can quite 

 easily, without arming the eye with a lens, 

 perceive the mouth-apparatus — and particu- 

 larly the mandibles — of either a honey-eater, 

 such as an Osmia, Chalicodoma or Megachile, 

 or a game-eater, such as a Scolia, Ammophila 

 or Bembex. All these possess stout pincers, 

 capable of gripping, grinding and tearing. 

 Then what is the purpose of the Leucospis' 

 invisible implements? His method of con- 

 suming will tell us. 



Like his prototype, the Anthrax, the Leu- 

 cospis does not eat the Chalicodoma-grub, 

 that is to say, he does not break it up into 

 mouthfuls; he drains it without opening it and 

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