33^ The Htmting JVasps 



curls her antennae and returns briskly to the 

 attack. What I had taken for the convulsions ' 

 of approaching death was the frenzied enthu- 

 siasm of victory. The Wasp was congratu- 

 lating herself on the manner in which she had 

 floored the enemy. 



3. The operator grips the caterpillar by the 

 skin of the back, a little lower than before, and 

 pricks the second segment, still on the ventral 

 surface. I then see her gradually recoiling along 

 the Grey Worm, each time seizing the back a 

 little lower down, clasping it with the mandibles, 

 those wide pincers with the curved jaws, and 

 each time driving the sting into the next seg- 

 ment. This recoil of the insect and this gradual 

 clasping of the back, a little farther down on 

 each occasion, are effected with methodical pre- 

 cision, as though the huntress were measuring 

 her prey. At each step backward the dart 

 stings the following segment. In this way are 

 wounded the three thoracic segments, with the 

 true legs ; the next two segments, which are 

 legless ; and the four segments with the pro-legs. 

 In all, nine stings. The last four segments are 

 disregarded : they consist of three without 

 legs and the last, or thirteenth, with pro-legs. 

 The operation is accomplished without serious 

 difficulty : after the first prick of the needle, 

 the Grey Worm offers but a feeble resistance. 



