The Fly-hunt 



the Sphex and the Ammophilae how the 

 mother solves the problem of preserved food- 

 stuffs, the problem of stocking a cell with the 

 requisite quantity of game for its future oc- 

 cupants and keeping the meat fresh for whole 

 weeks at a time ; indeed, it is something more 

 than fresh, for the victims are kept in an al- 

 most living state, except that they are incapa- 

 ble of movement, an essential condition if 

 the grub is to feed on them in safety. The 

 miracle is performed by the most cunning 

 methods known to physiology. The poi- 

 soned lancet is driven into the nerve-centres 

 once or oftener, according to the structure of 

 the nervous system. Thus operated upon, 

 the victim retains all the attributes of life, 

 short of the power of moving. 



Let us see if the Bembex make use of this 

 profound science of slaughter. The Flies 

 taken from between the legs of the kidnapper 

 as she enters her burrow present, in most 

 cases, every appearance of death. They are 

 motionless; occasionally we can detect in a 

 few of them some faint convulsions of the 

 tarsi, the last vestiges of a life that is passing 

 away. The same appearance of complete 

 death is usually found in the insects which 

 are not actually killed but paralysed by the 

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