More Hunting Wasps 



Scolia. For me, I see only one reason; and 

 I very much doubt whether any one can sug- 

 gest another. 



Both larvae practise a special art of eat- 

 ing, which is determined by the nature of 

 the game. The Sphex, when sitting down to 

 an Ephippiger, the food that has fallen to 

 its lot, knows thoroughly how to consume 

 it and how to preserve, to the very end, the 

 glimmer of life which keeps it fresh; but, if 

 it has to browse upon a Cetonia-grub, whose 

 different structure would confuse its talents 

 as a dissector, it would soon have nothing 

 before it but a heap of putrescence. The 

 ScoHa, in its turn, is familiar with the method 

 of eating the Cetonia-grub, its invariable por- 

 tion; but it does not understand the art of 

 eating the Ephippiger, though the dish is 

 to its taste. Unable to dissect this unknown 

 species of game, its mandibles slash away 

 at random, killing the creature outright as 

 soon as they take their first bites of the 

 deeper tissues of the victim. That is the 

 whole secret. 



One more word, on which I shall enlarge 

 in another chapter. I observe that the Sco- 

 llae to which I give Ephlpplgers paralysed 

 by the Sphex keep in excellent condition, de- 

 spite the change of diet, so long as the pro- 

 76 



