HEREDITY 



to see, and as the same was thus provided 

 by her mother who likewise died before 

 her, she could not have learned this re- 

 markable proceeding from her. This 

 wasp first makes a secure papier mache- 

 like box, as it may be called, and having 

 finished that, she then goes on a hunt for 

 the proper spiders, which she stings one 

 by one, and then deposits in the end 

 of the box. This sting does not kill the 

 spiders, but only benumbs them, so that 

 they remain hypnotized, as it were, await- 

 ing their doom from the larval wasp when 

 it hatches out of the egg which the wasp 

 lays only after enough spiders have been 

 deposited for the hatched larva to feed 

 upon. Here this wasp shows an accurate 

 knowledge of the nervous anatomy of 

 spiders, as she stings only that ganglion 

 which does not include the respiratory 

 centres, for that would be fatal. As the 

 adult wasp does not often feed upon spi- 

 55 



