More Hunting Wasps 



to the entire surface of the victim's body. 



Is this all? Not yet. The grub is 

 hatched; it pierces the belly of the Cetonia- 

 larva at the requisite point; it plunges its 

 long neck into the entrails, ransacking them 

 and filling itself to repletion. If it bite at 

 random, if it have no other guide in the 

 selection of tit-bits than the preference of the 

 moment and the violence of an imperious 

 appetite, it will infallibly incur the danger 

 of being poisoned by putrid food, for the 

 victim, if wounded in those organs which 

 preserve a remnant of life in it, will die for 

 good and all at the first mouthfuls. 



The ample joint must be consumed with 

 prudent skill : this part must be eaten before 

 that and, after that, some other portion, 

 always according to method, until the time 

 approaches for the last bites. This marks 

 the end of life for the Cetonia, but it also 

 marks the end of the Scolia's feasting. If 

 the grub be a novice in the art of eating, if 

 no special instinct guide its mandibles in the 

 belly of the prey, what chance has it of com- 

 pleting its perilous meal? As much as a 

 starving Wolf would have of daintily dis- 

 secting his Sheep, when he tears at her glut- 

 tonously, rends her into shreds and gulps 

 them down. 



120 



