A Scientific Slaughterer 53 



more speedy annihilation. There is nothing 

 more striking than this immediate immobihty 

 provoked in a powerful Sacred Beetle. 



But this is not the only resemblance between 

 the effects produced by the Wasp's sting and 

 those resulting from the nib poisoned with 

 ammonia. The Scarabs, Buprestes and Beetles 

 artificially stung, notwithstanding their com- 

 plete immobility, preserve for three weeks, a 

 month or even two the perfect flexibility of all 

 their joints and the normal freshness of their 

 internal organs. Evacuation takes place with 

 them during the first days as in the normal 

 state ; and movements can be induced by the 

 electric battery. In a word, they behave 

 exactly like the Beetles immolated by the Cer- 

 ceris ; there is absolute identity between the 

 state into which the kidnapper puts her victims 

 and that which we produce at will by injuring 

 the thoracic nerve-centres with ammonia. Now, 

 as it is impossible to attribute the perfect pre- 

 servation of the insect for so long a period to 

 the tiny drop injected, we must reject alto- 

 gether any notion of an antiseptic fluid and 

 admit that, despite its perfect immobility, the 

 insect is not really dead, that it still retains a 

 glimmer of life, which for some time to come 

 keeps the organs in their normal condition of 

 freshness, but gradually fades out, until at last 



