More Hunting Wasps 



But the Wasp is not a quarry; she is an en- 

 emy and one of the most dreaded of enemies. 

 The Spider knows this. At the sight of the 

 Wasp, Instead of placing herself fearlessly 

 but foolishly on her threshold, why does she 

 not retreat into her fortress, where the other 

 would not attack her? The accumulated ex- 

 perience of generations should have taught 

 her this elementary tactical device, which is 

 of the greatest value to the prosperity of 

 her race. If the Pompllus has perfected 

 her method of attack, why has not the Seges- 

 tria perfected her method of defence? Is it 

 possible that centuries upon centuries should 

 have modified the one to its advantage with- 

 out succeeding in modifying the other? 

 Here I am utterly at a loss. And I say to 

 myself, in all simplicity: since the Pomplli 

 must have Spiders, the former have pos- 

 sessed their patient cunning and the other 

 their foolish audacity from all time. This 

 may be puerile, if you like to think It so, and 

 not In keeping with the transcendental aims of 

 our fashionable theorists; the argument con- 

 tains neither the subjective nor the objective 

 point of view, neither adaptation nor differ- 

 entiation, neither atavism nor evolutionism. 

 Very well, but at least I understand It. 

 Let us return to the habits of Pompilus 



22 



