Advanced Theories 



Hymenoptera and find that, on the other side 

 of the Mediterranean, in our Algerian 

 provinces, the Yellow-winged Sphex and the 

 White-edged Sphex retain the same habits 

 that characterize them here. They capture 

 Orthoptera in the land of palm-trees even as 

 they do in the land of olive-trees. Though 

 separated from the others by the vast width 

 of the sea, the hunting compatriots of the 

 Kabyles and the Berbers pursue the same 

 game as their kindred in Provence. I also 

 see that a fourth species, the African Sphex 

 (S. afro] , is the scourge of the Locusts in the 

 neighbourhood of Oran. Lastly, I remember 

 reading, I forget where, of a fifth species 

 which also wages war on Locusts in the 

 steppes near the Caspian. Thus, on the 

 borders of the Mediterranean, we have five 

 different species of Sphex, whose larvae all live 

 on a diet of Orthoptera. 



Now let us cross the equator and go right 

 down to the southern hemisphere, to the 

 islands of Mauritius and Reunion: we shall 

 here find not a Sphex, but a closely-allied 

 Wasp of the same tribe, the Compressed 

 Chlorion, hunting the horrible Kakerlak, that 

 ravager of the foodstuffs in the ships and 

 harbours of the colonies. These Kakerlaks 

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