The Bee-eating Philanthus 



The Philanthus will nibble at the throat and 

 squeeze the sides in vain: the honey will not 

 rise to the mouth so long as a vestige of life 

 keeps the crop closed. 



Things are different with a corpse. The 

 tension is relaxed, the muscles become slack, 

 the resistance of the stomach ceases and the 

 bag of honey is emptied by the robber's vig- 

 orous presure. You see, therefore, that the 

 Philanthus is expressly obliged to inflict a 

 sudden death, which will do away at once 

 with the elasticity of the organs. Where is 

 the lightning stroke to be delivered? The 

 slayer knows better than we do, when she 

 sticks the Bee under the chin. The cerebral 

 ganglia are reached through the little hole 

 in the neck and death ensues immediately. 



The relation of thesfc acts of brigandage 

 cannot satisfy my distressing habit of follow- 

 ing each reply obtained with a fresh quest- 

 ion, until the granite wall of the unknowable 

 rises before me. If the Philanthus is an ex- 

 pert in killing Bees and emptying crops 

 swollen with honey, this cannot be merely an 

 alimentary resource, especially when, in com- 

 mon with the others, she has the banqueting- 

 hall of the flowers. I cannot accept her 

 atrocious talent as inspired merely by the 

 craving for a feast obtained at the expense 

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