A BEE-HUNTER 151 



least that Odynerus cares nothing for the rest. Once the 

 pouch is emptied the larva is abandoned as useless offal, 

 a certain sign of non-carnivorous appetites. Under these 

 conditions the persecutor of Chrysomela can no longer 

 be regarded as guilty of an unnatural double dietary. 



We may even wonder whether other species also are 

 not apt to draw some direct profit from the hunting 

 imposed upon them by the needs of the family. The 

 procedure of Odynerus in opening the anal pouch is 

 so far removed from the usual that we should not antici- 

 pate many imitators ; it is a secondary detail, and im- 

 practicable with game of a different kind. But there 

 may well be a certain amount of variety in the means of 

 direct utilisation. Why, for example, when the victim 

 which has just been paralysed or rendered insensible by 

 stinging contains in the stomach a delicious meal, semi- 

 liquid or liquid in consistency, should the hunter scruple 

 to rob the half-living body and force it to disgorge with- 

 out injuring the quality of its flesh ? There may well be 

 robbers of the moribund, attracted not by their flesh but 

 by the appetising contents of their stomachs. 



As a matter of fact there are such, and they are 

 numerous. In the first rank we may cite that hunter 

 of the domestic bee, Philanthns aviporus (Latreille). For 

 a long time I suspected Philanthus of committing such 

 acts of brigandage for her own benefit, having many 

 times surprised her gluttonously licking the honey- 

 smeared mouth of the bee ; I suspected that her hunting 

 of the bee was not undertaken entirely for the benefit of 

 her larvae. The suspicion was worth experimental con- 

 firmation. At the time I was interested in another 

 question also : I wanted to study, absolutely at leisure, 



