The Ammophilce 247 



by direct observation or by testing the insect's 

 sensibility with a needle. But the Sandy 

 Ammophila and especially the Hairy Ammo- 

 phila capture enormous victims, whose weight, 

 as I have said, is fifteen times that of the kid- 

 napper. Will this giant prey be treated in the 

 same manner as the frail Measuring-worm ? 

 Will one dagger-thrust be sufficient to subdue 

 the monster and render it incapable of doing 

 harm ? Will the horrid Grey Worm, lashing 

 the walls of the cell with its powerful tail, not 

 endanger either the egg or the little grub ? We 

 dare not picture the encounter, in the narrow 

 cell of the burrow, between those two — the 

 feeble, new-hatched creature and that dragony 

 thing still possessing freedom in its movements 

 to twist and untwist its tortuous coils. 



My suspicions were confirmed by an ex- 

 amination of the caterpillar from the point of 

 view of sensibility. Whereas the small game 

 of the Silky Ammophila and the Silvery Ammo- 

 phila struggle violently if the needle touches 

 them elsewhere than in the ring stung by the 

 Wasp, the big caterpillars of the Sandy Ammo- 

 phila and especially of the Hairy Ammophila 

 remain motionless, no matter which segment 

 we prick. With them there are no contortions, 

 no sudden twists of the hinder parts ; the steel 

 point produces no sign of a remnant of sensi- 



