94 ^-^^ Hunting IVasps 



two administered. It is true that the quivering 

 tip of the Sphex' abdomen seemed to be seek- 

 ing the favourable spot for a third wound ; but, 

 if it was really given, it escaped me. I should 

 therefore be inclined to think that the victim 

 forming the first ration is always stabbed 

 thrice, whereas the others, from motives of 

 economy, receive only two stings. Our study 

 of the Ammophilae, who hunt Caterpillars, will 

 confirm this suspicion later. 



After devouring the last Cricket the larva 

 sets about weaving its cocoon. The work is 

 finished well within forty-eight hours. Hence- 

 forth the skilful worker, safe within her im- 

 penetrable shelter, can yield to the irresistible 

 lethargy that invades her, to that nameless 

 mode of existence, neither sleep nor waking, 

 neither death nor life, from which she will 

 emerge, ten months from now, transfigured. 

 Very few cocoons are so complicated as hers. 

 It consists, in fact, in addition to a coarse outer 

 network, of three distinct layers, presenting the 

 appearance of three cocoons one inside the 

 other. Let us examine in detail these several 

 courses of the silken edifice. 



There is first an open woof, of a rough cob- 

 web texture, whereon the larva begins by 

 isolating itself, hanging as in a hammock, to 

 work more easily at the cocoon proper. This 



