Madame Redbelt 



r 



phila catch a caterpillar, but I know from what 

 others have seen how it is done. The capture 

 maybe made so far from the nest that an hour or 

 more must be spent in bringing home the prey. 



When the wasp finds a caterpillar she springs 

 upon it and a fight for life begins. The poor 

 worm leaps and curls and thrashes about, 

 using every art and weapon it possesses, but to 

 little avail, for the wasp, striding over it and 

 seizing its head in her jaws, drives in her sting 

 until movement ceases and the caterpillar lies 

 outstretched and quiescent. Sometimes a sin- 

 gle thrust of the sting suffices, the poison act- 

 ing like an electric shock; sometimes seven or 

 eight stings are given into several segments. 



It all depends upon whether the wasp pierces 

 the central nervous system, which runs along 

 the ventral side of the caterpillar in the form of 

 a cord thickened into a " ganglion " in each 

 segment. Some kinds of wasps seem to know 

 how to strike certain ganglia every time; and 

 this wasp, lifting the larva from the ground so 

 that she may curve the tip of her abdomen un- 

 derneath it, seems to try to do so, but she is 

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