xlviii 



interesting observations on the solitary wasps which he pub- 

 lished some years ago. He then described the singular state of 

 paralysis into which they throw their victims, which if killed 

 would decay, and if buried alive would in their struggles almost 

 infallibly destroy the egg or young larva of the wasp. The wasp, 

 however, stings them in such a manner as to pierce the ganglia, 

 and thus, without killing them, almost deprives them of all power 

 of movement. One species of Spliex, which preys on a large 

 grasshopper {Eyhippigera), obtains the same result in a different 

 manner. After having almost paralysed her victim in the usual 

 manner, she throws it on its back, bends the head so as to extend 

 the articulation of the neck, and then, seizing the intersegmental 

 membrane with her jaws, crushes the suboesophagal ganglion. 

 Truly a marvellous instinct. M. Fabre found that, after this 

 treatment, the victims retain some power of digestion, and he 

 was able considerably to prolong their life by feeding them with 

 syrup. 



Side by side with these wonderful instincts, M. Fabre records 

 almost equally surprising evidence of stupidity. The very same 

 species of Sphex, for instance, is, it seems, accustomed to drag 

 the Ephippigera by one antenna ; and M. Fabre found that if the 

 antennte be cut off close to the head, the Sphex, after trying in 

 vain to get a grip, gives the matter up as a bad job, and leaves 

 her victim in despair, without ever thinking of dragging it by 

 one of its legs. Again, when a Spliex had provisioned her cell, 

 laid her egg, and was about to close it up, M. Fabre drove her 

 away, and took out the Epjhippigera and the egg. He then allowed 

 the Sphex to return ; she went down into the empty cell, and 

 though she must have known that the grasshopper and the egg 

 were no longer there, yet she proceeded calmly to stop up the 

 orifice just as if nothing had happened. 



The genus Sphex paralyzes its victims and provisions its cell 

 once for all. Bemhex, on the contrary, kills the insects on which 

 its young are to feed, and, perhaps on this account, brings 

 its young fresh food (mainly flies) from time to time. But 

 while the Bemhex thus preys on some flies, there are others 

 which avenge their order. The genus Miltogramma lays its eggs 

 in the cells of the Bemhex ; and though there seems no reason 

 why the Bemhex, which is by far the stronger insect, should 

 tolerate this intrusion, which, moreover, she shows unmistakably 



