More Hunting Wasps 



progressive impregnation of the neighbour- 

 ing tissues? This is the doubtful point, 

 though it does not in any way invalidate the 

 precision of the abdominal injections, which 

 are comparatively neglected. As for those 

 in the caterpillar's thorax, their precision is 

 beyond dispute. After the Ammophllae, the 

 Scollae and, above all, the Calicurgi, is it 

 really necessary to bring into court yet other 

 witnesses, who would all swear that, with 

 modifications of detail, the movement of 

 their lancet Is strictly regulated by the ner- 

 vous system of the prey? This ought to be 

 enough. The proof is established for those 

 who have ears to hear with. 



Others delight in objections whose oddity 

 surprises me. They see in the poison of the 

 Hunting Wasps an antiseptic liquid and in 

 victuals stored in their burrows preserved 

 meats which are kept fresh not by a rem- 

 nant of life but by the virus and its microbes. 

 Come, my learned masters, let us just talk 

 the matter over, between ourselves. Have 

 you ever seen the larder of a skilled Hunt- 

 ing Wasp, a Sphex for Instance, a Scolia, an 

 Ammophila? You haven't, have you? I 

 thought as much. Yet It would be better to 

 begin by doing so, before bringing the pre- 

 servative microbe on the scene. The slight- 

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