More Hunting Wasps 



helpless creatures on a bed of leaf-mould 

 with a glass cover. I propose to see how 

 long I can keep them fresh, able to move 

 their mandibles and palpi. Already the vic- 

 tims of various Hunting Wasps had in- 

 structed me on a similar matter; I knew that 

 traces of life linger for two, three, four 

 weeks and longer. For instance, I had seen 

 the Ephippigers of the Languedocian Sphex 

 continue the waving of their antennae and 

 their paralytic shudders for forty days of art- 

 ificial feeding by hand; and I used to wonder 

 whether the more or less early death of the 

 other victims was not due to lack of nourish- 

 ment quite as much as to the operation which 

 they had undergone. However, the insect 

 in its adult form usually has a very brief 

 existence. It soon dies, killed by the mere 

 fact of living, without any other accident. 

 A larva is preferable for these investigations. 

 Its constitution is livelier, better able to sup- 

 port protracted abstinence, above all during 

 the winter torpor. The Cetonia-grub, a 

 regular lump of bacon, nourished by its own 

 fat during the winter season, fulfils the need- 

 ful conditions to perfection. What will be- 

 come of it, lying belly upwards on its bed of 

 leaf-mould? Will it survive the winter? 

 At the end of a month, three of my grubs 

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