32 The Hunting IVasps 



was powerless to provoke them, despite the 

 suppleness of the limbs and the freshness of 

 the viscera. To effect a comparison, I sub- 

 jected to the action of the Voltaic pile Beetles 

 really dead. Cellar-beetles, Saperdae and Lamiae, 

 asphyxiated with benzine or sulphuric acid gas. 

 Two hours at most after the asphyxiation, it 

 was impossible for me to provoke the move- 

 ments so easily obtained in Weevils who have 

 already for several days been in that curious 

 intermediate state between life and death into 

 which their formidable enemy plunges them. 



All these facts are opposed to the idea of 

 something completely dead, to the theory that 

 we have here a veritable corpse which has 

 become incorruptible by the action of a pre- 

 servative fluid. They can be explained only 

 by admitting that the insect is smitten in the 

 very origin and mainspring of its movements ; 

 that its susceptibility, suddenly benumbed, dies 

 out slowly, while the more tenacious vegetative 

 functions die still more slowly and keep the 

 intestines in a state of preservation for the 

 space of time required by the larvae. 



The particular thing which it was most im- 

 portant to ascertain was the manner in which 

 the murder is committed. It is quite evident 

 that the chief part in this must be played by 

 the Cerceris' venom-laden sting. But where 



