The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris 



seized in the grasp of their kidnappers, are 

 always deprived of any sign of life ; in a word, 

 they are decidedly dead. I was surprised to 

 remark that, no matter when these corpses 

 were dug up, they not only preserved all their 

 freshness of colouring, but their legs, anten- 

 nae, palpi and the membranes uniting the 

 various parts of the body remained perfectly 

 supple and flexible. There was no mutila- 

 tion, no apparent wound to be seen. One 

 might at first believe the reason, in the case 

 of the buried ones, to be due to the coolness 

 of the bowels of the earth, in the absence of 

 air and light; and, in the case of those taken 

 from the kidnappers, to the very recent date 

 of their death. But please observe that, at 

 the time of my explorations, after placing the 

 numerous exhumed Buprestes in separate 

 screws of paper, I often left them in their 

 little bags for thirty-six hours before pinning 

 them out. Well, notwithstanding the dry- 

 ness of the air and the burning July heat, I 

 always found the same flexibility in their 

 joints. Nay more: I have dissected several 

 of them, after that lapse of time, and their 

 viscera were as perfectly preserved as if I 

 had used my scalpel on the insects' live en- 

 trails. Now long experience has taught me 

 13 



