48 INSECT BEHAVIOR 



the commonest type, acts instantly, as I have just described. It 

 causes complete paralysis throughout the muscles that control walk- 

 ing, biting, excretion and all exterior movements of the cephalo- 

 thorax, abdomen and its appendages. The respiratory system ap- 

 pears to be all that is left uninjured. 



The second form, which is much more rarely met with, is a gradual 

 type, commencing with the deadening effect of heavy sleep, finally 

 giving place to paralysis, some time after the victim is stricken by 

 the sting. Let us observe the two cases in question. As an example 

 of the first we have a medium-sized spider that has been stung by 

 the white-footed wasp. Of course different kinds of spiders are 

 selected by different species of wasps. But this is of no consequence, 

 and will not affect the essential facts of our observation. If the 

 creature is a spider it matters not in the least whether it be Gastera- 

 cantha, Filistata, Micrathena or any other jaw-splitting species. 

 Spiders are the common prey of many solitary wasps, a fact which 

 is sufficient. 



The victim lies limply upon its belly in the cell. Enclosed in a 

 tomb of solid masonry, it is abandoned by the mother wasp to its fate. 

 Upon its flank lies the glistening egg of the slayer. Thus the un- 

 conscious living incubator awaits the pleasure of the maggot. Its 

 legs are limp and motionless, its palpi equally still. To all intents 

 and purposes the dejected object is dead, but there is still a flutter of 

 life in the outraged body. An occasional shudder, barely discernible 

 under the lens, a labored rise and fall of the abdominal walls evi- 

 dences the tiny spark still unquenched. 



In two days the young wasp emerges from the egg, glues its mouth 

 to the plump spider and commences to draw the victim, drop by 

 drop, into its own body. In twenty-four hours a shriveling sets in. 

 Like a punctured balloon in the sky, the spider shrinks before the 

 maggot's onslaught. Later, in order to taste sweeter fare, the 



