More Hunting Wasps 



maging through the heap of mould, guided 

 perhaps by that singular sensibility of the 

 antennae which enables the Hairy Am- 

 mophila to discover the Grey Worm ^ un- 

 derground, the Scolia ends by finding a Ce- 

 tonia-larva, a good plump one, in the pink 

 of condition, having reached its full growth, 

 just what the grub which is to feed on it 

 requires. Forthwith, the assaulted victim, 

 contracting desperately, rolls itself into a 

 ball. The other seizes it by the skin of the 

 neck. To unroll It Is Impossible to the In- 

 sect, for I myself have some trouble In doing 

 so. One single point is accessible to the 

 sting: the under part of the head, or rather 

 of the first segments, which are placed out- 

 side the coil, so that the grub's hard cra- 

 nium makes a rampart for the hinder ex- 

 tremity, which Is less well defended. Here 

 the Wasp's sting enters and here only can 

 it enter, within a narrowly circumscribed 

 area. One stab only of the lancet is given 

 at this point, one only because there is no 

 room for more; and this Is enough: the 

 larva Is absolutely paralysed. 



The nervous functions are abolished In- 

 stantly; the muscular contractions cease; and 



iThe caterpillar of the Turnip Moth. Cf. The Hunt- 

 ing Wasps: chaps, xviii. to xx. — Translator's Note. 

 92 



