The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris 15 



her prey incorruptible ! Incorruptible, did I 

 say ? It is much more than that ! The game 

 is brought to a condition which prevents desic- 

 cation, leaves the joints supple, keeps all the 

 organs, both internal and external, in their 

 pristine freshness, and, in short, places the 

 sacrificed insect in a state that differs from life 

 only by its corpse-like immobility. 



This is the theory that satisfied Leon Dufour, 

 as he contemplated the incomprehensible marvel 

 of those dead Buprestes proof against corrup- 

 tion. A preserving-fluid, incomparably superior 

 to aught that human science can produce, 

 explains the mystery. He, the master, the 

 ablest of them all, an expert in the niceties of 

 anatomy ; he who, with magnifying-glass and 

 scalpel, examined the whole entomological series, 

 leaving no nook or corner unexplored ; he, in 

 short, for whom insect organism possessed no 

 secrets can think of nothing better than an 

 antiseptic fluid to give at least the semblance of 

 an explanation of a fact that leaves him con- 

 founded. I crave permission to emphasize this 

 comparison between animal instinct and the 

 reasoning power of the sage in order the better 

 to bring to light, in due season, the over- 

 whelming superiority of the former. 



I will add but a few words to the history of 

 the Buprestis-hunting Cerceris. This Wasp, 



