The Bee-eating Philanthus 



should the huntress scruple to violate her 

 dying prey and force it to disgorge without 

 injuring the quality of the provisions? 

 There must be those who rob the dead, at- 

 tracted not by the flesh but by the exquisite 

 contents of the crop. 



In point of fact, there are; and they are 

 even numerous. We may mention in the 

 first rank the Wasp that hunts Hive-bees, 

 the Bee-eating Philanthus (P. aphorus, 

 LATR.). I long suspected her of perpe- 

 trating these acts of brigandage on her own 

 behalf, having often surprised her glutton- 

 ously licking the Bee's honey-smeared mouth; 

 I had an inkling that she did not always hunt 

 solely for the benefit of her larvae. The 

 suspicion deserved to be confirmed by ex- 

 periment. Also, I was engaged in another 

 investigation, which might easily be con- 

 ducted simultaneously with the one sug- 

 gested: I wanted to study, with all the lei- 

 sure of work done at home, the operating- 

 methods employed by the different Hunting 

 Wasps. I therefore made use, for the 

 Philanthus, of the process of experimenting 

 under glass which I roughly outlined when 

 speaking of the Odynerus. It was even the 

 Bee-huntress who gave me my first data in 

 this direction. She responded to my wishes 

 245 



