L 



70 The Hunting JVasps 



visions are far in excess of the needs of a 

 Tachytes-grub, who is certainly not more than 

 half the size of the larva of the Sphex. She 

 whose impassiveness, whose care to stop up 

 the burrow would at first have made one take 

 her for the mistress of the house, was in reality 

 a mere usurper. How is it that the Sphex, 

 who is larger and more powerful than her 

 adversary, allows herself to be robbed with 

 impunity, confining herself to fruitless pursuits 

 and fleeing like a coward when the interloper, 

 who does not even appear to notice her presence, 

 turns round to leave the burrow ? Can it be 

 that, in insects as in man, the first chance of 

 success lies in de V aiidace, encore de Vaudace et 

 toujours de Vaudace ? The usurper certainly 

 had audacity and to spare. I see her still, 

 with imperturbable calmness, moving in and 

 out in front of the complaisant Sphex, who 

 stamps her feet with impatience but does not 

 fall upon the thief. 



I v^dll add that, in other circumstances, I have 

 repeatedly found the same Wasp, whom I 

 presume to be a parasite, in short the Black 

 Tachytes, dragging a Cricket by one of his 

 antenna?. Was he a lawfully-acquired prey ? 

 I should like to think so ; but the vacillating 

 behaviour of the insect, who went straying about 

 the ruts in the roads as though seeking for a 



