More Hunting Wasps 



unfolding themselves exactly as I have de- 

 scribed will risk disappointment. Special in- 

 stances occur — they are even numerous — 

 which are more or less at variance with the 

 general rule. It will be well to mention the 

 more important, in order to put future ob- 

 servers on their guard. 



Not infrequently the first act, that of 

 paralysing the thorax, is restricted to two 

 thrusts of the sting instead of three, or even 

 to one, which is then delivered in the fore- 

 most segment. This, it would seem, from 

 the persistency with which the Ammophila 

 inflicts it, is the most important prick of all. 

 Is it unreasonable to suppose that the opera- 

 tor, when she begins by pricking the thorax, 

 intends to subdue her capture and to make it 

 incapable of injuring her, or even of dis- 

 turbing her when the moment comes for the 

 delicate and protracted surgery of the sec- 

 ond act? This idea seems to me highly ad- 

 missible; and then, instead of three dagger- 

 thrusts, why not two only, why not merely 

 one, if this would suffice for the time being? 

 The amount of vigour displayed by the cater- 

 pillar must be taken into consideration. Be 

 this as it may, the segments spared in the 

 first act are stabbed in the second. I have 

 sometimes even seen the three thoracic seg- 

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