PROVISION FOR REARING THE YOUNG. 1 37 



the art of skilful lesions, attempt to immobilise them 

 by wounds of another sort. This is the case with the 

 Pompilius, according to Goureau,^ who has studied it. 

 This insect nourishes its larvse with spiders ; it seems 

 certain that in most cases the spider is not pricked. 

 Victims who have been taken from the interior of 

 provision burrows can live for a long time in spite of 

 their wounds ; they cannot, therefore, have received 

 venom by inoculation. The author already quoted 

 believes that the Pompilius seizes its captive by 

 the pedicle which unites the abdomen to the cephalo- 

 thorax, and that it triturates this point between its 

 jaws. From this either death or temporary immo- 

 bility may follow. The Pompilius also makes up 

 for its relative ignorance by considerable ingenuity. 

 Thus sometimes, when it fears a return to life of the 

 victim destined for its larvae, it cuts off the legs while 

 it is still passive. Goureau has found in the nest of 

 this insect living spiders with their legs cut off. 



1 " Observations pour servira I'histoire de quelques Insectes," Atni. 

 Soc. entoinol. de France, t. 8, 1839, p. 541. 



