More Hunting Wasps 



almost automatic. She does not find it 

 easy to repeat her dagger-thrust. Most of 

 the specimens with which I experimented re- 

 fused a second victim on the first two days 

 after their exploits. As though somnolent, 

 they did not stir unless excited by my teasing 

 them with a bit of straw. Although more 

 active and more ardent in the chase, the 

 Two-banded ScoHa likewise does not draw 

 her weapon every time that I invite her. 

 For all these huntresses there are moments 

 of inaction which the presence of a fresh 

 prey is powerless to disturb. 



The Scoliae have taught me nothing fur- 

 ther, in the absence of subjects belonging to 

 other species. No matter: the results ob- 

 tained represent no small triumph for my 

 ideas. Before seeing the Scoliae operate, I 

 said, guided solely by the anatomy of the 

 victims, that the Cetonia-, Anoxia- and Oryc- 

 tes-larvae must be paralysed by a single 

 thrust of the lancet; I even named the point 

 where the sting must strike, a central point, 

 in the immediate vicinity of the fore-legs. 

 Of the three genera of paralysers, two have 

 allowed me to witness their surgical methods, 

 which the third, I feel certain, will confirm. 

 In both cases, a single thrust of the lancet; 

 in both cases, injection of the venom at a 

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