50 The Hunting JVasps 



invincibly repugnant to the dainty huntress ; 

 their numerous representatives vary consider- 

 ably in size, in much the same way as their 

 kidnappers, who can thus pick and choose the 

 victims that suit them ; they are far more 

 vulnerable than any of the others at the one 

 point where the Wasp's dart can penetrate, for 

 at this point the motor centres of the feet and 

 wings are crowded together, all easily accessible 

 to the sting. At this point, in the Weevils, 

 the three thoracic ganglia are very close to- 

 gether, the last two even touching ; at the same 

 point, in the Buprestes, the second and third 

 are mingled in one large mass, very near the 

 first. And it is just Buprestes and Weevils 

 that we see hunted, to the absolute exclusion 

 of all other game, by the eight species of Cer- 

 ceres whose provisions have been found to con- 

 sist of Beetles ! A certain inward resemblance, 

 that is to say, the centralization of the nervous 

 system, must therefore be the reason why the 

 lairs of the different Cerceres are crammed 

 with victims bearing no outward resemblance 

 whatever. 



The most exalted knowledge could make no 

 more judicious choice than this, by which so 

 great a collection of difficulties is magnificently 

 solved that we wonder if we be not the dupes 

 of some involuntary illusion, whether precon- 



