More Hunting Wasps 



men. The quarry merely travels the more 

 quickly on its back, without coiling itself into 

 a defensive posture. The Scolia reaches the 

 fore-part, with tumbles and other accidents 

 which vary greatly with the amount of toler- 

 ance displayed by the larva, her improvised 

 steed. With her mandibles she nips a point 

 of the thorax,' on the upper surface; she 

 places herself athwart the beast, arches her- 

 self and makes every effort to reach with 

 the end of her abdomen the region into which 

 the sting is to be driven. The arch is a 

 little too narrow to embrace almost the 

 whole circumference of her corpulent prey; 

 and she renews her attempts and efforts for 

 a long time. The tip of the belly tries every 

 conceivable expedient, touching here, there 

 and everywhere, but as yet stopping no- 

 where. This persistent search in itself 

 demonstrates the importance which the para- 

 lyser attaches to the point at which her lan- 

 cet is to penetrate the flesh. 



Meanwhile, the larva continues to move 

 along on its back. Suddenly it curls up; 

 with a stroke of its head it hurls the enemy 

 to a distance. Undiscouraged by all her 

 set-backs, the Wasp picks herself up, brushes 

 her wings and resumes her attack upon the 

 colossus, almost always by mounting the 

 310 



