More Hunting Wasps 



structural details which the classifier exam- 

 ines through his magnifying-glass, not the 

 delicate features which a Latreille would 

 quote when drawing up a technical descrip- 

 tion, but the general picture, the general out- 

 line that Impresses itself upon the vision 

 even of an untrained eye and makes the man 

 who knows nothing of science and above all 

 the child, a most perspicacious observer, con- 

 nect certain animals together. 



In this respect, what have the Brachyderes 

 and the Balanlnus In common in the eyes of 

 the townsman, the peasant, the child or the 

 Cerceris? Absolutely nothing. The first 

 has an almost cylindrical figure; the second, 

 squat, short and thickset, is conical in front 

 and elliptical, or rather shaped like the ace 

 of hearts, behind. The first is black, strewn 

 with cloudy, mouse-grey spots; the second Is 

 yellow ochre. The head of the first ends in 

 a sort of snout; the head of the second tapers 

 into a curved beak, slender as a horse-hair 

 and as long as the rest of the body. The 

 Brachyderes has a massive proboscis, cut off 

 short; the Balanlnus seems to be smoking an 

 insanely long cigarette-holder. 



Who would think of connecting two crea- 

 tures so unlike, of calling them by the same 

 name? Outside the professional classifiers, 

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