More Hunting Wasps 



sifted two cubic yards at least of sandy soil 

 with our fingers, we find ourselves in pos- 

 session of two larvae. If I had not wanted 

 any, I should have turned them up by the 

 handful. But my poor and costly harvest 

 is sufficient for the moment. To-morrow I 

 will send more vigorous arms to continue 

 the work of excavation. 



And now let us reward ourselves for our 

 trouble by studying the tragedy in the bell- 

 glass. Clumsy, awkward in her movements, 

 the Scolia slowly goes the round of the cir- 

 cus. At the sight of the game, her atten- 

 tion is aroused. The struggle is announced 

 by the same preparations as those displayed 

 by the Two-banded Scolia : the Wasp po- 

 lishes her wings and taps the table with the 

 tips of her antennae. And view, halloo! 

 The attack begins. Unable to move on a 

 flat surface, because of its short and feeble 

 legs, deprived moreover of the Cetonia- 

 larva's eccentric means of travelling on its 

 back, the portly grub has no thought of flee- 

 ing; it coils itself up. The Scolia, with her 

 powerful pincers, grips its skin now here, 

 now elsewhere. Curved into a circle with 

 the two ends almost touching, she strives to 

 thrust the tip of her abdomen into the nar- 

 row opening in the coil formed by the larva. 

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