The Fly-hunt 



the capture must take place with a sudden- 

 ness that makes it hardly possible, I should 

 say, to obtain paralysis unaccompanied by 

 death. A Cerceris face to face with her 

 clumsy Weevil, a Sphex grappling with the 

 fat Cricket or the portly Ephippiger, an Am- 

 mophila holding her caterpillar by the skin 

 of its neck, all three have an advantage over 

 a prey which is too slow in its movements to 

 avoid attack. They can take their time, se- 

 lect at their ease the mathematical spot where 

 the sting is to penetrate and lastly go to work 

 with the precision of an anatomist probing 

 with his scalpel the patient who lies before 

 him on the operating-table. But with the 

 Bembex it is a very different matter: at the 

 least alarm, the game nimbly makes off; and, 

 once on the wing, it can defy its pursuer. 

 The Wasp has to pounce upon her prey una- 

 wares, without considering how she shall at- 

 tack or calculating her blows, just as the Gos- 

 hawk does when hunting in the fallows. 

 Mandibles, claws, sting, every weapon must 

 be employed simultaneously in the fierce fray 

 so as to put an end as early as possible to a 

 contest in which the least hesitation would 

 give the victim time to escape. If these con- 

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