148 The Hunting Wasps 



has been made to carry the prey on the wing, 

 it is clear that the Wasp is incapable of long 

 flight with so heavy a load. To this incapacity 

 we owe the few characteristics that form the 

 subject of this chapter. A quarry that is not 

 too big to permit the effort of flying makes of 

 the Yellow-winged Sphex a semisocial species, 

 that is to say, one seeking the company of her 

 fellows ; a quarry too heavy to carry through 

 the air makes of the Languedocian Sphex a 

 species vowed to solitary labour, a sort of 

 savage disdainful of the pleasures that come 

 from the proximity of one's kind. The lighter 

 or heavier weight of the game selected here 

 determines the fundamental character of the 

 huntress. 



