46 
HYMENOPTERA# 
Some fpecies dig holes in the earth with their fore¬ 
feet, like dogs, in which holes they bury dead in¬ 
fers, chiefly fpiders or lepidopterous larvae, and 
after having depofited their eggs in the bodies of 
thefe in.fe&s, they carefully clofe the hole with 
earth. See the account from Ray * 
No creature can difplay more violent affe£lion for 
its young than this, nor is any more favage. 
They all agree in being the fiercefl of flies, for 
they will attack infefts much larger than themfelves; 
their ftrength indeed is great, their jaws are hard and 
fharp, and their flings are armed with a poifon, 
which fuddenly proves fatal to the creatures with 
which they engage. 
The favage feizes boldly on the creature it attacks, 
giving a ftroke with amazing force, then falling off 
to reft from the fatigue of the exertion, and to enjoy 
the vi£lory; it keeps, however, a fleady eye on the 
obje£l it has flruck till it dies, and then drags it to 
its nefl for the ufe of its young. 
The number of infefls which this creature de- 
flroys is almofl beyond conception, fifty fcarcely 
ferve for a meal^ the mangled remains about the 
mouth of its retreat, fufficiently betray the fan- 
guinary inhabitant—the eyes, the filament that ferves 
as a brain, and a fmall part of the contents of the 
body, are all the favage eats* 
