370 The Hitntiiig Wasps 



mathematics, that we may as well put it down 

 as nil and say that the desired arrangement 

 will never come about. For the Ammophila 

 of the prehistoric age, the attempt was renewed 

 only at long intervals, from one year to the 

 next. Then how did this sequence of nine 

 stings at nine selected points emerge from the 

 urn of chance ? When I am driven to appeal 

 to infinity in time, I am very much afraid of 

 running up against absurdity. 



' But,' say you, ' the insect did not attain 

 its present surgical dexterity at the outset : 

 it went through experiments, apprenticeships, 

 varying degrees of skill. There was a weeding- 

 out by natural selection, eliminating the less 

 expert, retaining the more gifted ; and instinct, 

 as we know it, developed gradually, thanks to 

 the accumulation of individual capacities, added 

 to those handed down by heredity.' 



The argument is erroneous : instinct de- 

 veloped by degrees is flagrantly impossible in 

 this case. The art of preparing the larva's 

 provisions allows of none but masters and 

 suffers no apprentices ; the Wasp must excel 

 in it from the outset or leave the thing alone. 

 Two conditions, in fact, are absolutely essential : 

 that the insect should be able to drag home 

 and store a quarry which greatly surpasses it 

 in size and strength ; and that the newly- 



