THE WASPS. 307 



the interior of his house, here disabled the poor creature 

 after a desperate defence, and then, after a dance of triumph 

 round its victim, carried it out of the door. According to 

 the same author the hunting of the spider by the butcher 

 wasps was already known to Aristotle. 



The patience of the butcher wasps in attaining their 

 object is wonderful. Fabre took away its prey from a Sphex 

 wasp, which had carried away a slain grasshopper to its 

 earth-hole, at the moment when it had crawled into the hole 

 to visit it, and laid it down at a certain distance forty times 

 over. But forty times it brought it back and went into the 

 hole again on each occasion ere it prepared to pull it in 

 (Brehm, loc. cit., ix., p. 280). The prize is often stolen away 

 by other wasps at this moment. 



Specially interesting among the butcher wasps, owing to 

 its striking behavior, is Philanthus apivorus, or the bee- 

 eater, which hovers carelessly among the flowers as though 

 it had nothing more to wish for. But those who watch it 

 carefully will soon see an interesting spectacle. A bee 

 appears ; it is busily engaged gathering honey and pollen, 

 and enthralled with its work gives no heed to its surround- 

 ings. The crafty Philanthus watches it closely, and when 

 the opportunity appears favorable, darts at it with indescrib- 

 able speed. It seizes it between head and thorax, and 

 always succeeds in flinging it on its shoulders and piercing it 

 with its sting. The bee naturally makes the most energetic 

 resistance, but the Philanthus is more dexterous, and scarcely 

 ever fails in securing its prey. After it is stung the bee 

 writhes a brief space, tries to sting, stretches out its pro- 

 boscis, and then falls down motionless. The murderer 

 seizes it with jaws and feet and hurries away to its nest. 

 Arrived thereat, it halts a moment, as though suspecting 

 danger. It then picks up its prey again, brings it into the 

 hole, lays an egg on it, closes up the place, and disappears. 

 Its audacity is sometimes so great that it will even approach 

 the beehive, although it is there menaced by the greatest 

 peril, and invite open battle. Perhaps it is the Crabo of the 

 old Romans, which, according to the description of the 

 poets, fights imparibus armis (with unequal arms). 



The habits of the ichneumon-flies, or Ichneumonidce, are 

 also deserving of notice ; these seek the eggs, larvae and 

 pupae of other insects in order to insert their own eggs 



