More Hunting Wasps 



the Insects which carry on an industry the 

 female is the stronger sex. 



Does this preeminence imply more abund- 

 ant provisions during the larval stage, when 

 the insect is acquiring the physical growth 

 which it will not exceed in its future develop- 

 ment? Simple reflection supplies the an- 

 swer: yes, the aggregate growth has its 

 equivalent in the aggregate provisions. 

 Though so slight a creature as the male 

 Philanthus finds a ration of two Bees suffi- 

 cient for his needs, the female, twice or 

 thrice as bulky, will consume three to six 

 at least. If the male Tachytes requires 

 three Mantes, his consort's meal will demand 

 a batch of something like ten. With her 

 comparative corpulence, the female Osmla 

 will need a heap of paste twice or thrice as 

 great as that of her brother, the male. All 

 this is obvious ; the animal cannot make much 

 out of little. 



Despite this evidence, I was anxious to 

 enquire whether the reality corresponded 

 with the previsions of the most elementary 

 logic. Instances are not unknown in which 

 the most sagacious deductions have been 

 found to disagree with the facts. During 

 the last few years, therefore, I have profited 

 by my winter leisure to collect, from spots 

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