160 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



shows that there is no more need of care and skill. The 

 bee is a corpse, and a little extra pushing and squeezing 

 will not deteriorate its quality as food, provided there is 

 no effusion of blood ; and however rough the treatment, 

 I have never been able to discover the slightest wound. 



These various manipulations, above all the compression 

 of the throat, lead to the desired result : the honey in the 

 stomach of the bee ascends to the mouth. I see the 

 drops of honey welling out, lapped up by the glutton as 

 soon as they appear. The bandit greedily takes in its 

 mouth the extended and sugared tongue of the dead 

 insect ; then once more it presses the neck and the 

 thorax, and once more applies the pressure of its abdo- 

 men to the honey-sac of the bee. The honey oozes forth 

 and is instantly licked up. This odious meal at the 

 expense of the corpse is taken in a truly sybaritic attitude: 

 the Philanthus lies upon its side with the bee between its 

 legs. This atrocious meal lasts often half an hour and 

 longer. Finally the exhausted corpse is abandoned ; 

 regretfully, it seems, for from time to time I have seen 

 the ogre return to the feast and repeat its manipulation 

 of the body. After taking a turn round the top of the 

 bell-glass the robber of the dead returns to the victim, 

 squeezes it once more, and licks its mouth until the last 

 trace of honey has disappeared. 



The frantic passion of the Philanthus for the honey of 

 the bee is betrayed in another fashion. When the first 

 victim has been exhausted I have introduced a second bee, 

 which has been promptly stabbed under the chin and 

 squeezed as before in order to extract its honey. A third 

 has suffered the same fate without appeasing the bandit. 

 1 have offered a fourth, a fifth ; all are accepted. My 



