35^ The Hunting Wasps 



work : they might easily, as the insect is borne 

 along, grip some bit of straw in the ground and 

 successfully resist this forcible removal ; the 

 brain, the primary nervous centre, might pro- 

 voke a stubborn contest, which would be very 

 awkward with so heavy a burden. It is well 

 that these hitches should be avoided. The 

 caterpillar, therefore, must be reduced to a 

 state of torpor which will deprive him of the 

 least inclination for self-defence. The Ammo- 

 phila succeeds in effecting this by munching his 

 head. She takes good care not to use her 

 needle : she is no clumsy bungler and knows 

 quite well that to inflict a mortal wound on the 

 cervical ganglia would mean killing the cater- 

 pillar then and there, the very thing to be 

 avoided. She merely squeezes the brain between 

 her mandibles, calculating every pinch ; and, 

 each time, she stops to ascertain the effect pro- 

 duced, for there is a nice point to be achieved, 

 a certain degree of torpor that must not be 

 exceeded, lest death should supervene. In 

 this way the requisite lethargy is obtained, 

 a somnolence in which all volition is lost. 

 And now the caterpillar, incapable of resist- 

 ance, incapable of wishing to resist, is seized 

 by the nape of the neck and dragged to the 

 nest. Comment would mar the eloquence of 

 such facts as these. 



