VII 



THREE STROKES OF A DAGGER 



There can be no doubt that the Sphex uses her 

 greatest skill when immolating a cricket ; it is 

 therefore very important to explain the method by 

 which the victim is sacrificed. Taught by my 

 numerous attempts to observe the war tactics of 

 the Cerceris, I immediately used on the Sphex the 

 plan already successful with the former, i.e. taking 

 away the prey and replacing it by a living specimen. 

 This exchange is all the easier because, as we have 

 seen, the Sphex leaves her victim while she goes 

 down her burrow, and the audacious tameness, 

 which actually allows her to take from your finger- 

 tips, or even off your hand, the cricket stolen from 

 her and now offered, conduces most happily to a 

 successful result of the experiment by allowing the 

 details of the drama to be closely observed. 



It is easy enough to find living crickets ; one has 

 only to lift the first stone, and you find them, crouched 

 and sheltering from the sun. These are the young 

 ones of the current year, with only rudimentary 

 wings, and which, not having the industry of the 

 perfect insect, do not yet know how to dig deep 



93 



