XV 



THE AMMOPHILA 217 



the cleverness of Scarabaeus sacer to the proof, when 

 we caught sight of an Ammophila hirsuta very busy 

 at the foot of a tuft of thyme. We instantly lay 

 down very close by. Our presence noways alarmed 

 the insect, which alighted for a moment on my sleeve, 

 decided that since her visitors did not move they 

 must be harmless, and returned to her tuft of thyme. 

 Well used to the ways of Ammophila, I knew what 

 this audacious tameness meant — she was occupied by 

 some serious affair. We would wait and see. The 

 Ammophila scratched in the ground round the collar 

 of the plant, pulling up thin little grass roots, and 

 poked her head under the tiny clods which she 

 raised up, ran hurriedly, now here, now there, round 

 the thyme, visiting every crack which gave access 

 under it ; yet she was not digging a burrow, but hunt- 

 ing something hidden underground, as was shown by 

 manoeuvres like those of a dog trying to get a rabbit 

 out of its hole. And presently, disturbed by what 

 was going on overhead and closely tracked by the 

 Ammophila, a big gray worm made up his mind to 

 quit his abode and come up to daylight. It is all 

 over with him ; the hunter is instantly on the spot, 

 gripping the nape of his neck and holding on in spite 

 of his contortions. Settled on the monster's back 

 the Ammophila bends her abdomen, and methodically, 

 deliberately — like a surgeon thoroughly familiar with 

 the anatomy of his subject — plunges a lancet into the 

 ventral surface of every segment, from the first to the 

 last. Not one ring is omitted ; with or without feet 

 each is stabbed in due order from the front to the 

 back. 



This is what I saw with all the leisure and ease 



