The Tachytes 



confine myself for the moment to mentioning 

 her rations, which consist of Mantis-larvae, 

 those of the Praying Mantis ^ predomina- 

 ting. My lists record from three to sixteen 

 heads for each cell. Once again we note a 

 great inequality of rations, the reason for 

 which we must try to discover. 



What shall I say of the Black Tachytes 

 {T. nigra, VAN DER LIND) that I have 

 not already said in telling the story of the 

 Yellow-winged Sphex?^ I have there de- 

 scribed her contests with the Sphex, whose 

 burrow she seems to me to have usurped; I 

 show her dragging along the ruts in the 

 roads a paralysed Cricket, seized by the 

 hauHng-ropes, his antennae; I speak of her 

 hesitations, which lead me to suspect her for 

 a homeless vagabond, and finally on her sur- 

 render of her game, with which she seems 

 at once satisfied and embarrassed. Save for 

 the dispute with the Sphex, an unique event 

 In my records as observer, I have seen all 

 the rest, many a time, but never anything 

 more, f The Black Tachytes, though the 

 most frequent of all in my neighbourhood, 

 remains a riddle to me. I know nothing 



^ Cf. The Life of the Grasshopper: chaps, vi. to Ix. — 

 Translator's Note. 



2 The Hunting Wasps: chaps, iv. to vi. — Translator's 

 Note. 



135 



