CHAPTER V 



THE PROBLEM OF THE SCOLI^ 



"^JOW that all the facts have been set 

 -*-^ forth, it is time to collate them. We 

 already know that the Beetle-hunters, the 

 Cerceres,^ prey exclusively on the Weevils 

 and the Buprestes, that is, on the families 

 whose nervous system presents a degree of 

 concentration which may be compared with 

 that of the Scolia's victims. Those preda- 

 tory insects, working in the open air, are 

 exempt from the difficulties which their emu- 

 lators, working underground, have to over- 

 come. Their movements are free and are 

 directed by the sense of sight; but their 

 surgery is confronted in another respect with 

 a most arduous problem. 



The victim, a Beetle, is covered at all 

 points with a suit of armour which the sting 

 is unable to penetrate. The joints alone will 

 allow the poisoned lancet to pass. Those of 

 the legs do not in any way comply with the 



1 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chaps, i. to iii. — Translator's 

 Note. 



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