The Leucospes 



Leucospis is not able to get up from dinner 

 or to sit down to it again as readily as the 

 Anthrax. I have sometimes to tease him with 

 the point of a hair-pencil in order to make 

 him let go; and, once he has left the joint, he 

 hesitates a little before putting his mouth to 

 it again. His adhesion is not the mere result 

 of a kiss like that of a cupping-glass; It can 

 only be explained by hooks that need relea- 

 sing. 



I now see the use of the microscopic man- 

 dibles. Those two delicate spikes are inca- 

 pable of chewing anything, but they may very 

 well serve to pierce the epidermis with an 

 aperture smaller than that made by the finest 

 needle; and it is through this puncture that 

 the Leucospis sucks the juices of his prey. 

 They are instruments made to perforate the 

 bag of fat which slowly, without suffering any 

 internal injury, is emptied through an open- 

 ing repeated here and there. The Anthrax' 

 cupping-glass is here replaced by piercers of 

 exceeding sharpness and so short that they 

 cannot hurt anything beyond the skin. Thus 

 do we see in operation, with a different sort 

 of implement, that wise system which keeps 

 the provisions fresh for the consumer. 

 2S1 



