148 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



nervous organization occasions a similarity of method. 

 Let us observe also that the sting of the Scolia remains 

 for some time in the wound and rummages with a pro- 

 nounced persistency. To judge by the movements of 

 the tip of the abdomen, one would say that the weapon 

 is exploring and selecting. Free to turn about as it 

 pleases within narrow limits, the sting's point is probably 

 searching for the little bundle of nerves which it must 

 prick, or at least sprinkle with poison, in order to obtain 

 a withering paralysis. 



I will not end my report of the duel without relating a 

 few more facts, of minor importance. The Two-banded 

 Scolia is an ardent persecutor of the Cetonia. At one 

 sitting, the same mother stabs three grubs, one after the 

 other, before my eyes. She refuses the fourth, perhaps 

 through fatigue, or because her poison-phial is exhausted. 

 Her refusal is but temporary. The next day, she begins 

 anew and paralyzes two worms ; the following day again, 

 but with a zeal that diminishes from day to day. 



The other predatory insects that go on long hunting- 

 expeditions embrace the prey which they have rendered 

 lifeless, drag it, convey it, each in its own fashion, and, 

 laden with their burden, long try to escape from the 

 bell and to reach the burrow. Disheartened by vain 

 attempts, they abandon it at last. The Scolia does not 

 move her prey, which lies indefinitely on its back at the 

 spot of sacrifice. After drawing her dagger from the 

 wound, she leaves her victim alone and starts fluttering 

 against the walls of the bell, without troubling about it 

 further. Things must happen in the same way in the 

 manure-heap, under normal conditions. The paralyzed 

 morsel is not carried elsewhither, to a special cellar : where 

 the struggle occurred, there it receives, on its spread 



