54 T^^^ Hunting JVasps 



it leaves them the prey of corruption. Be- 

 sides, in some cases, the ammonia does not 

 produce complete annihilation of movement 

 except in the insect's legs ; and then, as the 

 deleterious action of the liquid has doubtless 

 not extended far enough, the antennae preserve 

 a remnant of mobility and we see the insect, 

 even more than a month after the inoculation, 

 draw them back quickly at the least touch : a 

 convincing proof that life has not entirely de- 

 serted the inanimate body. This movement of 

 the antennae is also not uncommon in the 

 Weevils wounded by the Cerceris. 



In every case the injection of ammonia at 

 once stops all movement in Scarabs, Weevils 

 and Buprestes ; but we do not always succeed 

 in reducing the insect to the condition just 

 described. If the wound be too deep, if the drop 

 administered be too strong, the victim really 

 dies ; and, in two or three days' time, we have 

 nothing but a putrid body before us. If the 

 prick, on the other hand, be too slight, the 

 insect, after a longer or shorter period of deep 

 torpor, comes to itself and at least partially 

 recovers its power of motion. The assailant 

 herself may sometimes operate clumsily, just 

 like man, for I have noticed this sort of resur- 

 rection in a victim stung by the dart of a 

 Digger-wasp. The Yellow-winged Sphex, whose 



