PARALYZED PROVENDER 51 



more than a sleeping dog, for paralysis means the loss of power 

 to contract the muscles, an accomplishment of which both the roaches 

 and crickets are still capable. 



Twenty-four hours later I experimented again upon my subjects 

 with a result similar to that of the previous day. I let another twenty- 

 four hours pass. This time, at the touch of my pencil point, the 

 insect responded with a jump far less energetic than before. Every 

 hour now brings a weaker reaction; at length there is little or no 

 response to my efforts. 



The sting of the roach-killer and that of the lumberess thrust their 

 victims into painless sleep. The poison's action is not unlike alcohol. 

 At first a powerful sleeping potion followed by a gradual, ever- 

 increasing tying of the muscles, until they cease to move at all. Such 

 is the second condition of paralyzed provender. 



Let us now endeavor to discover the causes leading to these two 

 distinct types of paralysis as we have observed them in the prey of 

 solitary w r asps. Having already glanced at the spider's anatomy, it 

 will be well for the sake of comparison, to look into the anatomy 

 of the roach. In the first place the two belong to different phyla; 

 one is an arachnid, the other an insect. Therefore they will differ 

 physically. 



In the spider we find the ganglions clustered about the oesophagus, 

 concentrated into one particular section of the body and easily ac- 

 cessible. In the roach they are spread, more or less, throughout the 

 insect. There is a brain, three pairs of ganglions in the thorax, 

 followed by six pairs in the abdomen, a problem indeed for the wasp 

 who would paralyze such a complicated creature. 



I have not been fortunate in observing either the roach-killer or 

 the lumberess in the act of stinging their prey, but here is what I 

 believe to be the case in view of the facts : To reach the isolated nerve 

 centers at the outset, to bring instant and complete paralysis to her 



