The Ignorance of Instinct 175 



physiology. Nothing is difficult to instinct, 

 so long as the act is not outside the unvarying 

 cycle of animal existence ; on the other hand, 

 nothing is easy to instinct, if the act is at all 

 removed from the course usually pursued. 

 The insect which astounds us, which terrifies 

 us with its extraordinary intelligence, surprises 

 us, the next moment, with its stupidity, when 

 confronted with some simple fact that happens 

 to lie outside its ordinary practice. The Sphex 

 will supply us with a few instances. 



Let us follow her dragging her Ephippiger 

 home. If fortune smile upon us, we may 

 witness some such little scene as that which I 

 will now describe. When entering her shelter 

 under the rock, where she has made her burrow, 

 the Sphex finds, perched on a blade of grass, a 

 Praying Mantis, a carnivorous insect which 

 hides cannibal habits under a pious appear- 

 ance. The danger threatened by this robber 

 ambushed on her path must be known to the 

 Sphex, for she lets go her game and pluckily 

 rushes upon the Mantis, to inflict some heavy 

 blows and dislodge her, or at all events to 

 frighten her and inspire her with respect. The 

 robber does not move, but closes her lethal 

 machinery, the two terrible saws of the arm and 

 fore-arm. The Sphex goes back to her capture, 

 harnesses herself to the antennae and boldly 



