190 The Hunting IVasps 



doned on hilly ground, rolls to the bottom of 

 the slope ; and the Sphex on her return, no 

 longer finding it where she left it, is obliged to 

 seek for it, sometimes fruitlessly. If she find 

 it, she must renew a toilsome climb, which does 

 not prevent her from once more abandoning her 

 booty on the same unlucky declivity. Of these 

 repeated visits to the mouth of the shaft, the 

 first can be very logically explained. The 

 Wasp, before arriving with her heavy burden, 

 inquires whether the entrance to the home be 

 really clear, whether nothing will hinder her 

 from bringing in her game. But, once this first 

 reconnaissance is made, what can be the use of 

 the rest, following one after the other, at close 

 intervals ? Is the Sphex so volatile in her 

 ideas that she forgets the visit which she has 

 just paid and runs afresh to the burrow a 

 moment later, only to forget this new inspection 

 also and to start doing the same thing over and 

 over again ? That would be a memory with 

 very fleeting recollections, whence the impres- 

 sion vanished almost as soon as it was produced. 

 Let us not linger too long on this obscure 

 point. 



At last the game is brought to the brink of 

 the shaft, with its antennae hanging down the 

 hole. We now again see, faithfully imitated, 

 the method employed in the like case by the 



