The Wisdom of Instinct 



through her little Sphex brain at the sight of 

 this transformation? 



Let us now watch the Wasp when, having 

 prepared the burrow, she goes back for her 

 victim, which, after its capture and the opera- 

 tion that paralysed it, she has left at no great 

 distance. The Ephippiger is in a condition 

 similar to that of the Cricket sacrificed by the 

 Yellow-winged Sphex, a condition proving 

 for certain that stings have been driven into 

 her thoracic ganglia. Nevertheless, a good 

 many movements still continue; but they are 

 disconnected, though endowed with a certain 

 vigour. Incapable of standing on its legs, 

 the insect lies on its side or on its back. It 

 flutters its long antennae and also its palpi; it 

 opens and closes its mandibles and bites as 

 hard as in the normal state. The abdomen 

 heaves rapidly and deeply. The ovipositor 

 is brought back sharply under the belly, 

 against which it almost lies flat. The legs 

 stir, but languidly and irregularly; the middle 

 legs seem more torpid than the others. If 

 pricked with a needle, the whole body shud- 

 ders convulsively; efforts are made to get up 

 and walk, but without success. In short, the 

 insect would be full of life, but for its inability 

 to move about or even to stand upon its legs. 

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