The Hunting Wasps 



Therefore, within a few days', within a few 

 hours' interval, a second sting must be given, 

 as successful as the first. In other words, 

 the impossible has to be repeated, the impos- 

 sible raised to the second degree. 



Let us not be discouraged yet; let us sound 

 the uttermost depths of the problem. Here 

 is a Wasp, some precursor, no matter which, 

 of our Ammophila, who, favoured by chance, 

 has twice and perhaps oftener succeeded in 

 reducing the prey to that state of inertia 

 which the rearing of the egg imperatively de- 

 mands. She does not kno"w, does not sus- 

 pect that she inserted her sting opposite a 

 nerve-centre rather than any elsewhere. As 

 there was nothing to prompt her choice, she 

 acted at random. Nevertheless, if we are to 

 take the theory of instinct seriously, we shall 

 have to admit that this fortuitous action, 

 though a matter of indifference to the insect, 

 left a lasting trace and made so great an im- 

 pression that, henceforth, the cunning strat- 

 agem which produces paralysis by attacking 

 the nervous centres is transmissible by he- 

 redity. The Ammophila's successors, by 

 some prodigious privilege, will inherit what 

 the mother did not possess. They will know 

 by instinct the point or points towards which 

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