The Bee-ea.ting Philanthus 



duce the Philanthus to kill her Bee instead 

 of paralysing her. When the crime has been 

 perpetrated, she manipulatesf her dead vic- 

 tim without letting go of it for a moment, 

 holding its belly pressed against her own six 

 legs. I see her recklessly, very recklessly, 

 rooting with her mandibles in the articula- 

 tion of the neck, sometimes also in the larger 

 articulation of the corselet, behind the first 

 pair of legs, an articulation af whose delicate 

 membrane she Is perfectly well aware, even 

 though, when using her sting, she did not 

 take advantage of this point, which is the 

 most readily accessible of all. I see her 

 rough-handling the Bee's belly, squeezing it 

 against her own abdomen, crushing it in the 

 press. The recklessness of the treatment is 

 striking; it shows that there Is no need for 

 keeping up precautions. The Bee Is a 

 corpse; and a little hustling here and there 

 will not deteriorate its quahty, provided 

 there be no effusion of blood. In point of 

 fact, however rough the handling, I fail to 

 discover the slightest wound. 



These various manipulations, especially 

 the squeezing of the neck, at once bring about 

 the desired results: the honey In the crop 

 mounts to the Bee's throat. I see the tiny 

 drops spurt out, lapped up by the glutton as 

 257 



