The Ignorance of Instinct 191 



Yellow-winged Sphex and also, but under less 

 striking conditions, by the Languedocian Sphex. 

 The Wasp enters alone, inspects the interior, 

 reappears at the entrance, lays hold of the 

 antennae and drags the Locust down. While 

 the Locust-huntress was making her examina- 

 tion of the home, I have pushed her prize a 

 little farther back ; and I obtained results 

 similar in all respects to those which the 

 Cricket-huntress gave me. Each Sphex dis- 

 plays the same obstinacy in diving down her 

 burrow before dragging in the prey. Let us 

 recall here that the Yellow-winged Sphex does 

 not always allow herself to be caught by this 

 trick of pulling away her Cricket. There are 

 picked tribes, strong-minded families which, 

 after a few disappointments, see through the 

 experimenter's wiles and know how to baffle 

 them. But these revolutionaries, fit subjects 

 for progress, are the minority ; the remainder, 

 mulish conservatives clinging to the old manners 

 and customs, are the majority, the crowd. I 

 am unable to say whether the Locust-huntress 

 also varies in ingenuity according to the district 

 which she hails from. 



But here is something more remarkable ; 

 and it is this with which I wanted to conclude 

 the present experiment. After repeatedly with- 

 drawing the White-edged Sphex' prize from the 



