68 The Hunting Wasps 



cedure, because, after laying her Buprestis for 

 a moment at the door of her underground home, 

 she at once enters her gallery backwards and 

 then seizes the victim with her mandibles and 

 drags it to the bottom of the burrow. But it 

 is a far cry from these tactics and those adopted 

 in a like case by the Cricket-hunters. Why 

 that domiciliary visit which invariably precedes 

 the entrance of the game ? Could it not be 

 that, before descending with a cumbrous burden, 

 the Sphex thinks it wise to take a look at the 

 bottom of her dwelling, so as to make sure 

 that all is well and, if necessary, to drive out 

 some brazen parasite who may have slipped in 

 during her absence ? If so, who is the para- 

 site ? Several Diptera, Predatory Gnats, espe- 

 cially Tachinae, watch at the doors of the 

 Hunting Wasps, spying for the propitious 

 moment to lay their eggs on others' provisions ; 

 but none of them enters the home or ventures 

 into the dark passages where the owner, if by 

 ill-luck she happened to be in, would perhaps 

 make them pay dearly for their audacity. The 

 Sphex, like all the rest, pays her tribute to the 

 plundering Tachinae ; but these never enter the 

 burrow to perpetrate their misdeeds. Besides, 

 have they not all the time that they need to 

 lay their eggs on the Cricket ? If they are 

 sharp about it, they can easily profit by the 



