The JVisdom of Instmct 1 73 



speak, and supporting with liquid nourishment. 

 I used sugar-and-water. 



Laying the insect on its back, I place a drop 

 of the sugary fluid on its mouth with a straw. 

 The palpi at once begin to stir ; the mandibles 

 and jaws move. The drop is swallowed with 

 evident satisfaction, especially after a some- 

 what prolonged fast. I repeat the dose until it 

 is refused. The m_eal takes place once a day, 

 sometimes twice, at irregular intervals, lest I 

 should become too much of a slave to my 

 patients. Well, one of the Ephippigers lived 

 for twenty-one days on this meagre fare. It 

 was not much, compared with the eighteen days 

 of the one whom I had left to die of starvation. 

 True, the insect had twice had a bad fall, having 

 dropped from the experimenting-table to the 

 floor owing to some piece of awkwardness on 

 my part. The bruises which it received must 

 have hastened its end. The other, which 

 suffered no accidents, hved for forty days. As 

 the nourishment employed, sugar-and-water, 

 could not indefinitely take the place of the 

 natural green food, it is very likely that the 

 insect would have lived longer still if the usual 

 diet had been possible. And so the point 

 which I had in view is proved : the victims 

 stung by the Digger-wasps die of starvation 

 and not of their wounds. 



