The Three Dagger-thrusts 8i 



Despite the appearances that might make 

 us think otherwise, the Crickets immolated by 

 the Yellow-winged Sphex are no more dead 

 than the Weevils pierced by the Cerceris' dart. 

 The flexibility of the victims' integuments, 

 faithfully revealing the slightest internal move- 

 ment, enables us in this case to dispense with 

 the artificial methods which I employed to 

 demonstrate the presence of a remnant of life 

 in the Cleoni of the Great Cerceris. In fact, if 

 we assiduously observe a Cricket stretched on 

 his back, a week, a fortnight even or more after 

 the murder, we see the abdomen heaving deeply 

 at long intervals. Pretty often we can still 

 perceive a few quiverings in the palpi and ex- 

 ceedingly-pronounced movements on the part 

 of both the antennae and the abdominal threads, 

 which diverge and separate and then suddenly 

 come together. I have succeeded, by placing 

 the sacrificed Crickets in glass tubes, in keeping 

 them perfectly fresh for a month and a half. 

 Consequently, the Sphex-grubs, which live for 

 less than a fortnight before shrouding them- 

 selves in their cocoons, are certain of fresh meat 

 until their banquet is finished. 



The chase is over ; the three or four Crickets 

 that are the allotted portion of each cell are 

 stacked methodically, lying on their backs, with 

 their heads at the far end of the cell and their 



F 



