Chapter vii 



ADVANCED THEORIES 



The species of the genus Sphex are fairty 

 numerous, but are for the most part strangers 

 to my country. As far as I know, the French 

 fauna numbers only three, all lovers of the 

 hot sun of the olive district, namely, the Yellow- 

 winged Sphex (Sphex flavipennis), the White- 

 edged Sphex (5. albiseda), and the Languedocian 

 Sphex (5. occitanica). Now it is not without a 

 lively interest that the observer notices in the 

 case of these three freebooters a choice of pro- 

 visions which is in strict accordance with the 

 rigid laws of entomological classification. To 

 feed their grubs, all three choose solely Orthop- 

 tera.^ The first hunts Crickets, the second 

 Locusts, the third Ephippigers. 



The prey selected have such great outward 

 differences one from the other that to associate 

 them and grasp their similarity calls for the 

 practised eye of the entomologist or the no 



* The order of insects including Earwigs, Cockroaches, Mantes, 

 Crickets, Locusts and Grasshoppers. — Translator's Note. 



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