More Hunting Wasps 



me back, because of the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing the necessary prey at short notice. 



Indeed it entails no small trouble to se- 

 cure in the nick of time the game demanded 

 by the huntress who has recently fallen a cap- 

 tive to my net. As assistant-purveyors I 

 have a few small schoolboys, who, released 

 from the tedium of their declensions and con- 

 jugations, set out, on leaving the classroom, 

 to inspect the greenswards and beat the 

 bushes In the neighbourhood on my behalf. 

 The gros sou, the penny-piece, if you please, 

 stimulates their zeal; but with misadventur- 

 ous results I What I need to-day is Crickets. 

 The band sallies forth and returns with not 

 a smgle Cricket, but numbers of Ephipplgers, 

 for which I asked the day before yesterday 

 and which I no longer need, my Languedo- 

 cian Sphex being dead. General surprise at 

 this sudden change of market. My young 

 scatterbralns find it hard to understand that 

 the beast which was so precious two days 

 ago is now of no value whatever. When, 

 owing to the chances of my net, a renewed 

 demand for the Ephipplger sets In, then they 

 will bring me the Cricket, the despised 

 Cricket. 



Such a trade could never hold out if now 

 292 



