The Great Cerceris 23 



far end of the tube are the cells, few in number 

 and each provisioned with five or six corpses 

 of the Beetle order. But let us leave these 

 building details and come to facts more capable 

 of exciting our admiration. 



The victim which the Cerceris chooses where- 

 on to feed her grubs is a large-sized Weevil, 

 Cleonus ophthalmicus. We see the kidnapper 

 arrive heavily laden, carrying her victim be- 

 tween her legs, body to body, head to head, 

 and plump down at some distance from her 

 hole, to complete the rest of the journey with- 

 out the aid of her wings. The Wasp is now 

 dragging her prey in her mandibles up a verti- 

 cal, or at least a very steep surface, productive 

 of frequent tumbles which send kidnapper and 

 kidnapped rolling helter-skelter to the bottom, 

 but incapable of discouraging the indefatigable 

 mother, who, covered with dirt and dust, ends 

 by diving into the burrow with her booty, 

 which she has not let go for a single moment. 

 Whereas the Cerceris finds it far from easy to 

 walk with such a burden, especially on ground 

 of this character, it is a different matter when 

 she is flying, which she does with a vigour that 

 astonishes us when we consider that the sturdy 

 little creature is carrying a prize almost as 

 large as herself and heavier. I had the curio- 

 sity to compare the weight of the Cerceris and 



