116 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES issi 



in your book on the ' Mind of Animals ' any of the 

 more complex and wonderful instincts. It is un- 

 satisfactory work, as there can be no fossilised in- 

 stincts, and the sole guide is their state in other 

 members of the same order and mere probability. But 

 if you do discuss any (and it will perhaps be expected 

 of you) I should think that you could not select a better 

 case than that of the sand-wasps, which paralyse their 

 prey, as formerly described by Fabre in his wonderful 

 paper in ' Annales des Sciences,' and since amplified 

 in his admirable ' Souvenirs.' Whilst reading this 

 latter book, I speculated a little on the subject. 

 Astonishing nonsense is often spoken of the sand- 

 wasp's knowledge of anatomy. Now will anyone say 

 that the Gauchos on the plains of La Plata have 

 such knowledge, yet I have often seen them prick a 

 struggling and lassoed cow on the ground with un- 

 erring skill, which no mere anatomist could imitate. 

 The pointed knife was infallibly driven in between 

 the vertebras by a single slight thrust. I presume 

 that the art was first discovered by chance, and that 

 each young Gaucho sees exactly how the others do 

 it, and then with a very little practice learning 

 the art. Now I suppose that the sand-wasps 

 originally merely killed their prey by stinging them 

 in many places (see p. 129 of Fabre, ' Souvenirs,' and 

 page 241), on the lower and softer side of the body, 

 and that to sting a certain segment was found by far 

 the most successful method, and was inherited, like 

 the tendency of a bull-dog to pin the nose of a bull, 

 or of a ferret to bite the cerebellum. It would not be 

 a very great step in advance to prick the ganglion of 



