The Ignorance of Instinct 



will ever return to make use of the home 

 which she has prepared. The next Ephip- 

 piger will be caught elsewhere ; and the ware- 

 house destined to receive her will be dug 

 elsewhere too. But these, after all, are 

 only arguments: let us rather have recourse 

 to experiment, which is more conclusive here 

 than logic. 



I allowed nearly a week to elapse, in order 

 to give the Sphex time to return to the bur- 

 row which she had so methodically closed 

 and to make use of it for her next laying if 

 such were her intention. Events corre- 

 sponded with the logical inferences : the bur- 

 row was in the condition wherein I left it, 

 still firmly closed, but without provisions, 

 egg or larva. The proof was decisive: the 

 Wasp had not been back. 



So the plundered Sphex enters her house, 

 makes a leisurely inspection of the empty 

 chamber and, a moment afterwards, behaves 

 as though she had not perceived the disap- 

 pearance of the bulky prey which but now 

 filled the cell. Did she, in fact, fail to no- 

 tice the absence of the provisions and the 

 egg? Is she, who is so clear-sighted in her 

 murderous proceedings, dense enough not to 

 realize that the cell is empty? I dare not 

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