yS The Hunting Wasps 



of the tactics of which I have given a feeble 

 ghmpse. The Cerceris attacks a passive ad- 

 versary, incapable of flight, almost devoid of 

 offensive weapons, whose sole chances of safety 

 lie in a stout cuirass, the weak point of which, 

 however, is known to the murderess. But 

 what a difference here ! The quarry is armed 

 with dreadful mandibles, capable of disem- 

 bowelling the assailant if they succeed in seizing 

 her ; it sports a pair of powerful legs, regular 

 clubs bristling with a double row of sharp 

 spikes, which can be used either to enable the 

 Cricket to hop out of his enemy's reach, or to 

 send her sprawling with brutal kicks. Observe, 

 therefore, the precautions which the Sphex takes 

 before setting her sting in motion. The victim, 

 turned upon his back, cannot, for lack of any 

 purchase, use his hind-levers to escape with, 

 which he certainly would do if he were at- 

 tacked in the normal position, as are the big 

 Weevils of the Great Cerceris. His spurred 

 legs, mastered by the Sphex' fore-feet, cannot 

 act as offensive weapons either ; and his man- 

 dibles, kept at a distance by the Wasp's hind- 

 legs, open in wide menace without being able 

 to seize a thing. But it is not enough for the 

 Sphex to render her Cricket incapable of hurt- 

 ing her ; she must also hold him so firmly 

 pinioned that he cannot make the slightest 



