More Hunting Wasps 



What are we to think of the Sphex' Crick- 

 ets and Ephippigers, stabbed three times on 

 the side of the thorax, which is fairly well 

 defended, whereas the abdomen, soft and 

 bulky, into which the sting would sink like 

 a needle into a pat of butter, is neglected? 

 Do not let us forget the Philanthus, who 

 takes no account either of the fissures be- 

 neath the abdominal plates or of the wide 

 hiatus behind the corselet, but plunges her 

 weapon, at the base of the throat, through 

 a gap of a fraction of a millimetre. Let us 

 just mention the Mantis-hunting Tachytes. 

 Does she make for the most undefended 

 point when she stabs, first of all, at its base, 

 the Mantis' dreadful engine — the arm- 

 pieces each fitted with a double saw — at the 

 risk of being seized, transfixed and crunched 

 on the spot if she misses her blow? Why 

 does she not strike at the creature's long 

 abdomen? That would be quite easy and 

 free from danger. 



And the Calicurgi, if you please Are 

 they also unskilled duelists, plunging the dirk 

 into the only easily accessible point, when 

 their very first move is to paralyse the poi- 

 son-fangs? If there is one point about the 

 Tarantula and the Epeira that is dangerous 

 and difficult to attack, it is certainly the 

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