The Dung-Beetles of the Pampas 



tell me that in Texas a Pepsis, a huntress of 

 big game akin to the Calicurgi, gives chase 

 to a formidable Tarantula and vies in daring 

 with our Ringed Calicurgus, 1 who stabs the 

 Black-bellied Lycosa. 2 They tell me that the 

 Sphex-wasps of the Sahara, a rival of our 

 own White-banded Sphex, 3 operate on Lo- 

 custs. But we must limit these quotations, 

 which could easily be multiplied. 



For producing variations of animal species 

 to suit our theorists there is nothing so con- 

 venient as the influence of environment. It 

 is a vague, elastic phrase, which does not 

 compromise us by compelling us to be too 

 precise and it supplies an apparent expla- 

 nation of the inexplicable. But is this influ- 

 ence so powerful as they say? 



I grant you that to some small extent it 

 modifies the shape, the fur or feather, the 

 colouring, the outward accessories. To go 

 farther would be to fly in the face of facts. 

 If the surroundings become too exacting, the 

 animal protests against the violence endured 

 and succumbs rather than change. If they 



1 For the Pompilus, or Ringed Calicurgus, cf. The Life 

 and Love of the Insect: chap. xii. — Translator's Note. 



2 For the Narbonne Lycosa, or Black-bellied Taran- 

 tula, cf. The Life of the Spider: chaps, i. and iii. to vii.. 

 — Translator's Note. 



3 Cf. The Life of the Fly: chap, i.— Translator's Note. 



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