The Mason-Wasps 



talent is expressed in a work of the highest 

 perfection, which charms the most untutored 

 eye. Their dwelling is a masterpiece. And 

 yet the Eumenes follow the profession of 

 arms, which is unfavourable to artistic effort: 

 they stab and sting a victim; they pillage and 

 plunder. They are predatory Wasps, vic- 

 tualling their larvae with caterpillars. It 

 must be interesting to compare their habits 

 with those of the operator on the Grey 

 Worm. 1 Though the quarry caterpillars 

 in either case remain the same, instinct, 

 which is liable to vary with the species, may 

 have fresh glimpses in store for us. Besides, 

 the edifice built by the Eumenes in itself de- 

 serves inspection. 



The Hunting Wasps whose story we have 

 told hitherto 2 are wonderfully well-versed 

 in the art of wielding the lancet; they astound 

 us with their surgical methods, which they 



1 The Grey Worm is the caterpillar of Noctua segetum, 

 the Dart or Turnip Moth. It is hunted by the Hairy Am- 

 mophila, for whom cf. The Hunting Wasps, by J. Henri 

 Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap, 

 xviii. Translator's Note. 



2 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: passim; Insect Life, by J. H. 

 Fabre, translated by the author of Mademoiselle Mori: 

 chaps, iii. to xii., xiv. to xvii. and xix. ; The Life and Love 

 of the Insect, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander 

 Teixeira de Mattos: chaps, xi. to xii.; and Social Life of 

 the Insect World, by J. H. Fabre, translated by Bernard 

 Miall : chap. xiii. Translator's Note. 



