The Poison of the Bee 



spot, entailing the least clanger to the con- 

 sumer and the game, when the corpulent prey 

 has to be devoured with a special art that war- 

 rants its freshness! 



Well, how can this multitude of varied in- 

 stincts teach us anything about gradual trans- 

 formation? Will the one and only dagger- 

 thrust of the Cerceris and the Scolia take us 

 to the two thrusts of the Calicurgus, to the 

 three thrusts of the Sphex, to the manifold 

 thrust of the Ammophila ? Yes, If we consider 

 only numerical progression. One and one are 

 two; two and one are three: so run the fi- 

 gures. But is this what we want to know? 

 What has arithmetic to do with the case? Is 

 not the whole problem subordinate to a con- 

 dition that cannot be translated into cyphers? 

 As the prey changes, the anatomy changes; 

 and the surgeon always operates with a com- 

 plete understanding of his subject. The sin- 

 gle dagger-thrust is administered to ganglia 

 collected into a common cluster; the manifold 

 thrusts are distributed over the scattered 

 ganglia; of the two thrusts of the Tarantula- 

 huntress, one disarms and the other paralyses. 

 And so with the others, that is to say, the 

 Instinct Is directed each time by the secrets of 



361 



