More Hunting Wasps 



light chestnut-brown. Its form is that of 

 an ellipsoid, with a major axis 26 millimetres 

 in length, while the minor axis measures 1 1 

 millimetres.^ These dimensions, which inci- 

 dentally are inclined to vary slightly, are 

 those of the female cocoons. In the other 

 sex they are smaller and may measure as 

 little as 17 millimetres in length by 7 milli- 

 metres in width. ^. 



The two ends of the ellipsoid have the 

 same form, so much so that it is only thanks 

 to an individual peculiarity, independent of 

 the shape, that we can tell the cephalic from 

 the anal extremity. The cephalic pole is 

 flexible and yields to the pressure of my 

 tweezers ; the anal pole is hard and unyield- 

 ing. The wrapper is double, as in the co- 

 coons of the Sphex.^ The outer envelope, 

 consisting of pure silk, is thin, flexible and 

 offers little resistance. It is closely super- 

 imposed upon the inner envelope and is easily 

 separated from it everywhere, except at the 

 anal end, where it adheres to the second 

 envelope. The adhesion of the two wrap- 

 pers at one end and the non-adhesion at the 

 other are the cause of the differences which 



1 1.014 ^ 429 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 2 .663 "< .Z73 inch. — Translator's Note. 

 8 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chaps, iv. to x. et passim. — 

 Translator's Note. 



84 



