More Hunting Wasps 



time to spare, to the objections which have 

 been or may be raised. Of course, I pass 

 over in silence those in which childish dis- 

 paragement shows its nose too plainly. 



The sting, I am told, is directed at one 

 point rather than another because that is the 

 only vulnerable point. The insect cannot 

 choose what wound it will inflict; it stings 

 where it must. Its wonderful operative me- 

 thod is the necessary result of the victim's 

 structure. Let us first, if we attach any im- 

 portance to lucidity, come to an understand- 

 ing about the word " vulnerable." Do you 

 mean by this that the point or rather points 

 wounded by the sting are the only points at 

 which a lesion will suddenly cause either 

 death or paralysis? If so, I share your 

 opinion; not only do I share it, but I was the 

 first to proclaim it. My whole thesis is con- 

 tained in that. Yes, a hundred times yes, 

 the points wounded are the only vulnerable 

 points; they are even very vulnerable; they 

 are the only points which lend themselves 

 to the infliction of sudden death or else 

 paralysis, according to the operator's inten- 

 tion. 



But this is not how you understand the 

 matter: you mean accessible to the sting, in 

 a word, penetrable. Here we part com- 

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