More Hunting Wasps 



therefore, must attack with discretion, at the 

 unvarying point chosen by the mother on the 

 ventral surface, for the entrance-hole is at 

 the exact point where the egg was fixed. 

 As the nursling's neck lengthens and dives 

 deeper, the victim's entrails are nibbled 

 gradually and methodically: first, the least 

 essential; next, those whose removal leaves 

 yet a remnant of life; lastly, those whose 

 loss Inevitably entails death, followed very 

 soon by putrefaction. 



At the first bites we see the victim's blood 

 oozing through the wound. It Is a highly- 

 elaborated fluid, easy of digestion, and forms 

 a sort of milk-diet for the new-born grub. 

 The little ogre's teat is the bleeding paunch 

 of the Cetonla-larva. The latter will not 

 die of the wound, at least not for some time. 

 The next thing to be tackled Is the fatty 

 substance which wraps the internal organs 

 In its delicate folds. This again Is a loss 

 which the Cetonia can suffer without dying 

 then and there. Now comes the turn of 

 the muscular layer which lines the skin; now, 

 that of the essential organs; now, that of 

 the nerve-centres and the trachean network, 

 whereupon the last gleam of light is extin- 

 guished and the Cetonia reduced to a mere 

 bag, empty but Intact, save for the entrance- 

 58 



