The Hunting Wasps 



the practised eye of the entomologist or the 

 no less experienced eye of the Sphex. Pray 

 compare the Cricket with the Locust: the 

 first has a large, round, stumpy head, is short 

 and thickset and black all over, with red 

 stripes on his hinder thighs; the second is 

 greyish in colour, long and slim, with a small, 

 tapering head, leaps forward by suddenly un- 

 bending his long hind-legs and continues this 

 flight with wings furled like a fan. Next 

 compare both of these with the Ephippiger, 

 who carries his musical instrument, two shrill 

 cymbals shaped like concave scales, on his 

 back and who waddles along with his pendu- 

 lous belly, ringed pale-green and buttercup- 

 yellow and armed with a long dirk. Place 

 the three side by side and you will agree with 

 me that, to guide her in choosing between 

 such dissimilar species, while still keeping to 

 the same entomological order, the Sphex must 

 have an eye so expert that no man not 

 your ordinary layman, but a man of science 

 need be ashamed to own it. 



In the face of these singular predilections, 

 which seem to have had their limits laid down 

 for them by some master of classification, by 

 a Latreille, for instance, it becomes interest- 

 ing to investigate whether the Sphex-wasps 

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