Packard.] RELATIONS OE INSECTS TO MAN. 
77 
a charmingly written account of his experiences with a wasp 
called Cerceris, which had been known to sting, and conse¬ 
quently paralyze, its prey, consisting of the larva or grub of 
a certain weevil. M. Fabre waylaid a Cerceris returning 
with her booty, and substituted a fresh, uninjured weevil 
grub for the one paralyzed. “This experiment succeeded to 
admiration. As soon as the C&rceris perceived her prey to 
have slipped from her grasp, she struck the earth with her 
feet, and turned impatiently hither and thither: then, sud¬ 
denly perceiving the living curculio, placed close to her by 
M. Fabre, pounced upon it, and proceeded to carry it off. 
Instantly, however, discovering it to be still uninjured, she 
placed herself face to face with it, seized its rostrum be¬ 
tween her powerful mandibles, and pressed her fore legs 
heavily upon its back, as if to cause the opening of some 
ventral articulation. Quickly then she slid her abdomen 
beneath the curculio, and struck her venomous dart sharply 
twice or thrice into the joint of the prothorax, between the 
first and second pair of legs. In one second, without a con¬ 
vulsive movement, without those twitches of the limbs which 
generally accompany the death agony of any animal, the 
victim dropped motionless, struck as if by lightning. The 
Cerceris then, turning the apparently lifeless insect on its 
back, embraced it as before described, and bore it away in 
triumph. Three times did M. Fabre repeat this interesting 
experiment, each time with precisely similar results. It 
must be clearly understood that on each occasion he re¬ 
stored to the Cerceris her original captive, and took pos¬ 
session of that which he had himself provided, in order to 
examine it at his leisure. Greatly did he marvel at the dex¬ 
terity with which the fatal stroke had been dealt. Not the 
slightest trace of a wound was to be found; not the least 
drop of vital liquid spilt. The puncture made by the sting 
of the Cerceris is indeed so microscopic that chemistry can 
furnish no poison sufficiently powerful to produce with so 
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