158 The Hunting JVasps 



different with the Sphex, who has to cart her 

 prize home. First, having still, to a great 

 extent, preserved the use of its tarsi, the victim 

 clutches with these at any blade of grass en- 

 countered on the road along which it is being 

 dragged ; and this produces an obstacle to the 

 hauling process which is difficult to overcome. 

 The Sphex, already heavily burdened by the 

 weight of her load, is liable to exhaust herself 

 with her efforts to make the other insect relax 

 its desperate grip in grassy places. But this is 

 the least serious drawback. The Ephippiger 

 preserves the complete use of her mandibles, 

 which snap and bite with their customary 

 vigour. Now what these terrible nippers have 

 in front of them is just the slender body of the 

 enemy, at a time when she is in her hauling 

 attitude. The antennae, in fact, are grasped 

 not far from their roots, so that the mouth of 

 the victim dragged along on its back faces 

 either the thorax or the abdomen of the Sphex, 

 who, standing high on her long legs, takes good 

 care, I am convinced, not to be caught in the 

 mandibles yawning underneath her. At all 

 events, a moment of forgetfulness, a slip, the 

 merest trifle can bring her within the reach of 

 two powerful nippers, which would not neglect 

 the opportunity of taking a pitiless vengeance. 

 In the more difficult cases at any rate, if not 



