1 62 The Hunting Wasps 



a bit and you shall see that I still have much 

 to learn from the Sphex. For what happens is 

 that my two patients very soon die : I mean, 

 they really die ; and, in four or five days, I 

 have nothing but putrid corpses before my 

 eyes. And the Wasp's Ephippiger ? I need 

 hardly say that the Wasp's Ephippiger, even 

 ten days after the operation, is perfectly fresh, 

 just as she will be required by the larva for 

 which she has been destined. Nay, more : only 

 a few hours after the operation under the 

 skull, there reappeared, as though nothing had 

 occurred, the disorderly movements of the legs, 

 antennae, palpi, ovipositor and mandibles ; in 

 a word, the insect returned to the condition 

 wherein it was before the Sphex bit its brain. 

 And these movements were kept up after, 

 though they became feebler every day. The 

 Sphex had merely reduced her victim to a 

 passing state of torpor, lasting amply long 

 enough to enable her to bring it home without 

 resistance ; and I, who thought myself her 

 rival, was but a clumsy and barbarous butcher : 

 I killed my prize. She, with her inimitable 

 dexterity, shrewdly compressed the brain to 

 produce a lethargy of a few hours ; I, brutal 

 through ignorance, perhaps crushed under my 

 forceps that delicate organ, the main seat of 

 life. If anything could prevent me from blush- 



