The Hunting Wasps 



are none other than Cockroaches, whereof 

 one species haunts our dwellings. Who does 

 not know the evil-smelling insect, which, 

 thanks to its flat body, like that of a huge Bug, 

 slips at night through the gaps in furniture 

 and the crannies of partitions and invades any 

 place containing provisions to be devoured? 

 This is the Blackbeetle of our houses, a dis- 

 gusting counterpart of the no less disgusting 

 prey beloved of the Chlorion. What is there 

 about the Kakerlak to cause him to be selected 

 as a prey by a near cousin of our Sphex- 

 wasps? It is quite simple: with his Bug 

 shape, the Kakerlak also is an Orthopteron, 

 just as much as the Cricket, the Ephippiger 

 or the Locust. From these six examples, the 

 only ones known to me and of such different 

 origins, we might perhaps deduce that all the 

 Sphex hunt Orthoptera. At any rate, with- 

 out adopting so general a conclusion, we see 

 what the food of their larvae must be in most 

 cases. 



There is a reason for this surprising choice. 

 What is it? What are the grounds for a diet 

 which, within the strict limits of one ento- 

 mological order, is composed here of stinking 

 Kakerlaks, there of somewhat dry, but highly- 

 flavoured Locusts, elsewhere again of plump 

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