238 INSECT LIFE 



XVII 



operating table j but for the Bembex it is another 

 matter. At the least alarm the prey is off, and its 

 power of wing defies that of the pursuer. The 

 Hymenopteron must pounce on its prey, without 

 measuring its attack or calculating its blow, like a 

 hawk hunting over the fallows. Mandibles, claws, 

 sting — all weapons — must be used at the same 

 moment in the hot battle, to end as fast as possible 

 a struggle in which the least indecision would give 

 the prey time to escape. If these conjectures 

 agree with facts, the Bembex can only secure a 

 dead body, or, at all events, a prey wounded to 

 death. 



Well, my calculations are right. The Bembex 

 attacks with an energy which would do honour to 

 a bird of prey. To surprise one on the chase is no 

 easy matter, and it would be useless to lay in a stock 

 of patience and watch near the burrow, for the insect 

 flies to a distance, and it is impossible to follow its 

 rapid evolutions, and doubtless its manoeuvres would 

 be still unknown to me but for the help of an article 

 from which I should assuredly never have expected 

 a like service — namely, the umbrella which served me 

 as a tent amid the sands of Issarts. 



I was not the only one to profit by its shade ; 

 my companions were usually numerous. Gadflies 

 of different kinds would take refuge under the silken 

 canopy, and roost peacefully here and there on the 

 outspread silk, rarely failing to appear when the heat 

 was overpowering. To pass the hours when I was 

 unemployed, I used to observe with pleasure their 

 great gilded eyes shining like carbuncles under my 

 canopy, or their grave movements when some spot 



