272 The Hunting Wasps 



We have seen in the case of the Cerceres, the 

 Sphex and the Ammophilae how the mother 

 solves the problem of preserved food-stuffs, the 

 problem of stocking a cell with the requisite 

 quantity of game for its future occupant and 

 keeping the meat fresh for whole weeks at a 

 time ; indeed, it is something more than fresh, 

 for the victims are kept in an almost living state, 

 except that they are incapable of movement, an 

 essential condition if the grub is to feed on them 

 in safety. The miracle is performed by the 

 most cunning methods known to physiology. 

 The poisoned lancet is driven into the nerve- 

 centres once or oftener, according to the struc- 

 ture of the nervous system. Thus operated 

 upon, the victim retains all the attributes of life, 

 short of the power of moving. 



Let us see if the Bembex make use of this 

 profound science of slaughter. The Flies taken 

 from between the legs of the kidnapper as she 

 enters her burrow present, in most cases, every 

 appearance of death. They are motionless ; 

 occasionally we can detect in a few of them some 

 faint convulsions of the tarsi, the last vestiges of 

 a life that is passing away. The same appear- 

 ance of complete death is usually found in the 

 insects which are not actually killed but para- 

 lysed by the adroit dagger-thrust of a Cerceris 

 or a Sphex. The question whether they are 



