The Poison of the Bee 



raised by Darwin when he said that there were 

 no fossil remains of instincts. And, if there 

 were, O master, what would they teach us? 

 Not very much more than what we learn from 

 the instincts of to-day. Does not the geologist 

 make the erstwhile carcases live anew in our 

 minds in the light of the world as we see it? 

 With nothing but analogy to guide them, he 

 describes how some saurian lived in the Juras- 

 sic age; there are no fossil remains of habits, 

 but nevertheless he can tell us plenty about 

 them, things worthy of credence, because the 

 present teaches him the past. Let us do a 

 little as he does. 



I will suppose a precursor of the Calicurgl^ 

 dwelling in the prehistoric coal-forests. Her 

 prey was some hideous Scorpion, that first- 

 born of the Arachnida. How did the Hy- 

 menopteron master the terrible prey? Ana- 

 logy tells us, by the methods of the present 

 slayer of Tarantula?. It disarmed the ad- 

 versary; it paralysed the venomous sting by 

 a stroke administered at a point which we 

 could determine for certain by the animal's 



'The Calicurgus, or Pompilus, is a Hunting Wasp, 

 feeding her I.irvsc on Spiders. Cf. The Life and Love of 

 the Insect: chap. xii. — Translator's Note. 



357 



