28o The Hunting Wasps 



Every moment a Bembex would enter, 

 swift as lightning, and dart up to the silken 

 ceiling, which resounded with a sharp thud. 

 Some rumpus was going on aloft, where the 

 eye could no longer distinguish between attacker 

 and attacked, so lively was the fray. The 

 struggle did not last for an appreciable time : 

 the Wasp would retire forthwith with a victim 

 between her legs. The dull herd of Gad-flies, 

 at this sudden irruption which slaughtered 

 them one after the other, drew back a little all 

 round, without quitting the treacherous shelter. 

 It was so hot outside ! Why get excited ? 



Obviously, this suddenness of attack, followed 

 by the swift removal of the prey, does not allow 

 the Bembex to regulate her dagger-play. The 

 sting no doubt performs its office, but it is 

 directed without precision at those spots which 

 the hazards of the fight place within its reach. 

 I have seen Bembex, to finish off their half- 

 killed Gad-flies still struggling in the assassin's 

 grasp, munch the head and thorax of the victims. 

 This habit in itself proves that the Wasp wants 

 a genuine corpse and not a paralysed prey, since 

 she ends the Fly's agony with so little cere- 

 mony. All things considered, therefore, I think 

 that, on the one hand, the nature of the prey, 

 which dries up so quickly, and, on the other 

 hand, the difficulty of making such rapid 



