More Hunting Wasps 



in a glass jar, on a bed of mould; I remove 

 the egg of the Sphex and on each victim, after 

 slightly incising the skin of the belly, I place 

 a young Scolia-grub. For three or four days 

 my charges feed upon this game, so novel 

 to them, without any sign of repugnance or 

 hesitation. By the fluctuations of the di- 

 gestive canal I perceive that the work of 

 nutrition is proceeding as it should; things 

 are happening just as if the dish were a 

 Cetonia-larva. The change of diet, com- 

 plete though it is, has in no way affected the 

 appetite of the Scolia-grubs. But this pros- 

 sperous condition does not last long. About 

 the fourth day, a little sooner in one case, a 

 little later in another, the three Ephippigers 

 become putrid and the Scoliae die at the same 

 time. 



This result is eloquent. Had I left the 

 egg of the Sphex to hatch, the larva coming 

 out of it would have fed upon the Ephip- 

 piger; and for the hundredth time I should 

 have witnessed an Incomprehensible specta- 

 cle, that of an animal which, devoured piece- 

 meal for nearly a fortnight, grows thin and 

 empty, shrivels up and yet retains to the 

 very end the freshness peculiar to living 

 flesh. Substitute for this Sphex-larva a Sco- 

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