The Method of the Scoliae 



with a zeal that decreases from day to day. 



The other Hunting Wasps that pursue 

 the chase far afield grip, drag, carry their 

 prey, after depriving it of movement, each 

 in her own fashion and, laden with their bur- 

 den, make prolonged attempts to escape 

 from the bell-glass and to gain the burrow. 

 Discouraged by these futile endeavours, they 

 abandon them at last. The Scolla does not 

 remove her quarry, which lies on its back 

 for an indefinite time on the actual spot of 

 the sacrifice. When she has withdrawn her 

 dagger from the wound, she leaves her vic- 

 tim where it lies and, without taking further 

 notice of it, begins to flutter against the side 

 of the glass. The paralysed carcase is not 

 transported elsewhere. Into a special cellar; 

 there where the struggle has occurred it re- 

 ceives, upon its extended abdomen, the egg 

 whence the consumer of the succulent tit-bit 

 will emerge, thus saving the expense of set- 

 ting up house. It goes without saying that 

 under the bell-glass the laying does not take 

 place : the mother is too cautious to abandon 

 her egg to the perils of the open air. 



Why then, recognizing the absence of her 

 underground burrow, does the Scolla use- 

 lessly pursue the Cetonia with the frantic 

 ardour of the Philanthus flinging herself 

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