NERVE SPECIALISTS 
303 
and hence must be looked upon rather in the 
light of enemies, since what harms our friends 
harms us. The Bembexes, or fly-hunters, depart 
from the usual methods of their clan in that they 
kill their prey outright instead of paralyzing it. 
Moreover, these little people do not fit up their 
cells and leave matters to Fate as do the others 
of their clan. They cannot do this, considering 
the nature of their prey. A fly is a frail thing, 
and a preserved fly an article not to be consid¬ 
ered. It would be merely as dust and ashes. The 
Bembex baby hatches in twenty-four hours, and 
shortly thereafter the little mother appears with 
a nice, juicy greenbottle, fresh from the prepara¬ 
tion of its own ghastly tables. And she keeps this 
up as best she may during the two weeks it takes 
the little grub to grow up. Naturally, toward 
the end of this period, the mother grows quite 
frazzled and overworked. For the appetite of 
each baby is boundless. Fabre reports a total of 
eighty-two flies having been brought in by one 
energetic provider for the sustenance of her rav¬ 
enous offspring. Like the home of the Says, the 
Bembexes’ is a palatial affair. The entrance is 
as broad as one’s finger, and runs back from eight 
to twelve inches in length, where it terminates in 
a room as large as a bantam’s egg. 
“ The spider-loving wasp mentioned is 
the familiar mud-dauber, whose plastered 
