The Hunting Wasps 



And in a moment it is all over. Without 

 the least shiver denoting pain, the Ephippiger 

 becomes henceforth an inert mass. I remove 

 the Sphex' patient for the second time and 

 replace it by the other female at my disposal. 

 The same proceedings are repeated, followed 

 by the same result. The Sphex has per- 

 formed her skilful surgery thrice over, almost 

 in immediate succession, first with her own 

 prey and then with my substitutes. Will she 

 do so a fourth time with the male Ephippiger 

 whom I still have left? I have my doubts, 

 not because the Wasp is tired, but because the 

 game does not suit her. I have never seen 

 her with any prey but females, who, crammed 

 with eggs, are the food which the larvae ap- 

 preciate above all others. My suspicion is 

 well-founded; deprived of her capture, the 

 Sphex stubbornly refuses the male whom I 

 offer to her. She runs hither and thither, 

 with hurried steps, in search of the vanished 

 game; three or four times, she goes up to the 

 Ephippiger, walks round him, casts a scorn- 

 ful glance at him; and at last she flies away. 

 He is not what her larvae want; experiment 

 demonstrates this once again after an interval 

 of twenty years. 



The three females stabbed, two of them 

 182 



