The Scoliae 



Hunting Wasps, whose weapon is a surgical 

 lancet and devised for the most delicate 

 physiological operations. 



Among the other Scoliae of my district I 

 will mention the Two-banded Scolia {S. 

 hifasciata, VAN DER LIND), whom I see 

 every year, in September, working at the 

 heaps of leaf-mould which are placed for her 

 benefit in a corner of my paddock; and the 

 Interrupted Scolia {S. interrupta, LATR.), 

 the inhabitant of the sandy soil at the foot 

 of the neighbouring hills. Much smaller 

 than the two preceding insects, but also much 

 commoner, a necessary condition of continu- 

 ous observation, they will provide me with 

 the principal data for this study of the 

 Scoliae. 



I open my old note book; and I see my- 

 self once more, on the 6th of August, 1857, 

 in the Bois des Issards, that famous copse 

 near Avignon which I have celebrated in my 

 essay on the Bembex-wasps.^ Once again, 

 my head crammed with entomological pro- 

 jects, I am at the beginning of my hoHdays 

 which, for two months, will allow me to in- 

 dulge in the insect's company. 



A fig for Mariotte's ^ flask and Tori- 



1 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chap. xiv. — Translator's Note. 



2 Edme Mariotte (1620-1684), a French chemist who 



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