More Hunting Wasps 



duced before giving a fresh pinch of the 

 nippers. 



It will be seen how valuable is the evi- 

 dence of Jules' Ammophila: it tells us that 

 the immolators of Looper caterpillars and 

 those of ordinary caterpillars follow pre- 

 cisely the same method; that victims dis- 

 playing very dissimilar external structure do 

 not entail any modification of the operative 

 tactics so long as the internal organization 

 remains the same. The number, arrange- 

 ment and degree of mutual independence of 

 the nerve-centres guide the sting; the an- 

 atomy of the game, rather than its form, 

 controls the huntress' tactics. 



Let me mention, before I dismiss the sub- 

 ject, a superb example of this marvellous 

 anatomical discrimination. I once took 

 from between the legs of a Hairy Ammo- 

 phila, which had just paralysed it, a cater- 

 pillar of Dicranura vinula. What a strange 

 capture compared with the ordinary cater- 

 pillar! Bridling in thick folds beneath its 

 pink neckerchief, its fore-part raised in a 

 sphinx-like attitude, its hinder-part slowly 

 waving two long caudal threads, the curious 

 animal is no caterpillar to the schoolboy who 

 brings it to me, nor to the man who comes 

 upon it while cutting his bundle of osiers; 

 306 



