The Hunting Wasps 



a comparison, I subjected to the action of the 

 Voltaic pile Beetles really dead, Cellar- 

 beetles, Saperdae and Lamiae, asphyxiated 

 with benzine or sulphuric acid gas. Two 

 hours at most after the asphyxiation, it was 

 impossible for me to provoke the movements 

 so easily obtained in Weevils who have al- 

 ready for several days been in that curious 

 intermediate state between life and death into 

 which their formidable enemy plunges them. 



All these facts are opposed to the idea of 

 something completely dead, to the theory 

 that we have here a veritable corpse which 

 has become incorruptible by the action of a 

 preservative fluid. They can be explained 

 only by admitting that the insect is smitten in 

 the very origin and mainspring of its move- 

 ments; that its susceptibility, suddenly be- 

 numbed, dies out slowly, while the more te- 

 nacious vegetative functions die still more 

 slowly and keep the intestines in a state of 

 preservation for the space of time required 

 by the larvae. 



The particular thing which it was most 

 important to ascertain was the manner in 

 which the murder is committed. It is quite 

 evident that the chief part in this must be 

 played by the Cerceris' venom-laden sting. 

 34 



