More Hunting Wasps 



good motive, there is a great temptation to 

 do it again with no other excuse than hunger. 

 Besides, who knows? Perhaps there is al- 

 ways at the back of her hunting some thought 

 of game which might be useful for the larvae. 

 Although not carried into effect, the inten- 

 tion excuses the deed. 



I therefore withdraw my epithets in order 

 to admire the insect's maternal logic and to 

 hold it up to the admiration of others. The 

 honey would be pernicious to the health of 

 the larvae. How does the mother know that 

 the syrup, a treat for her, is unwholesome 

 for her young? To this question our sci- 

 ence offers no reply. The honey, I say, 

 would Imperil the grubs' lives. The Bee 

 must therefore first be made to disgorge. 

 The disgorging must be effected without 

 lacerating the victim, which the nurseling 

 must receive In the fresh state; and the 

 operation is impracticable on a paralysed in- 

 sect because of the resistance of the stom- 

 ach. The Bee must therefore be killed out- 

 right instead of being paralysed, or the 

 honey will not be voided. Instantaneous 

 death can be inflicted only by wounding the 

 primordial centre of life. The sting must 

 therefore aim at the cervical ganglia, the 

 seat of innervation on which the rest of the 

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