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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by Sue Asscher <asschers@dingoblue.net.au> + + + + + +MORE HUNTING WASPS + +by J. HENRI FABRE + + + + +TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS, F. Z. S. + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. + +The fourteen chapters contained in this volume complete the list of essays +in the "Souvenirs entomologiques" devoted to Wasps. The remainder will be +found in the two earlier volumes of this collected edition entitled "The +Hunting Wasps" and the "Mason-wasps" respectively. + +Chapter 2 has appeared before in my version of "The Life and Love of the +Insect," an illustrated volume of extracts translated by myself and +published by Messrs. Adam and Charles Black (in America by the Macmillan +Co.), and Chapter 10 in a similar miscellany translated by Mr. Bernard +Miall published by Messrs. T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. (in America by the Century +Co.) under the title of "Social Life in the Insect World." These two +chapters are included in the present book by arrangement with the original +firms. + +I wish to place on record my thanks to Mr. Miall for the valuable +assistance which he has given me in preparing this translation. + +ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS. + +Ventnor, I. W., 6 December, 1920. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +TRANSLATOR'S NOTE. + +CHAPTER 1. THE POMPILI. + +CHAPTER 2. THE SCOLIAE. + +CHAPTER 3. A DANGEROUS DIET. + +CHAPTER 4. THE CETONIA-LARVA. + +CHAPTER 5. THE PROBLEM OF THE SCOLIAE. + +CHAPTER 6. THE TACHYTES. + +CHAPTER 7. CHANGE OF DIET. + +CHAPTER 8. A DIG AT THE EVOLUTIONISTS. + +CHAPTER 9. RATIONING ACCORDING TO SEX. + +CHAPTER 10. THE BEE-EATING PHILANTHUS. + +CHAPTER 11. THE METHOD OF THE AMMOPHILAE. + +CHAPTER 12. THE METHOD OF THE SCOLIAE. + +CHAPTER 13. THE METHOD OF THE CALICURGI. + +CHAPTER 14. OBJECTIONS AND REJOINDERS. + +INDEX. + + + + +CHAPTER 1. THE POMPILI. (This essay should be read in conjunction with that +on the Black-bellied Tarantula. Cf. "The Life of the Spider," by J. Henri +Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's +Note.) + +The Ammophila's caterpillar (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps," by J. Henri Fabre, +translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 13 and 18 to 20; and +Chapter 11 of the present volume.--Translator's Note.), the Bembex (Cf. +idem: chapter 14.--Translator's Note.), Gad-fly, the Cerceris (Cf. idem: +chapters 1 to 3.--Translator's Note.), Buprestis (A Beetle usually +remarkable for her brilliant colouring. Cf. idem: chapter 1.--Translator's +Note.) and Weevil, the Sphex (Cf. idem: chapter 4 to 10.--Translator's +Note.), Locust, Cricket and Ephippiger (Cf. "The Life of the Grasshopper," +by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 13 +and 14.--Translator's Note.): all these inoffensive peaceable victims are +like the silly Sheep of our slaughter-houses; they allow themselves to be +operated upon by the paralyser, submitting stupidly, without offering much +resistance. The mandibles gape, the legs kick and protest, the body +wriggles and twists; and that is all. They have no weapons capable of +contending with the assassin's dagger. I should like to see the huntress +grappling with an imposing adversary, one as crafty as herself, an expert +layer of ambushes and, like her, bearing a poisoned dirk. I should like to +see the bandit armed with her stiletto confronted by another bandit equally +familiar with the use of that weapon. Is such a duel possible? Yes, it is +quite possible and even quite common. On the one hand we have the Pompili, +the protagonists who are always victorious; on the other hand we have the +Spiders, the protagonists who are always overthrown. + +Who that has diverted himself, however little, with the study of insects +does not know the Pompili? Against old walls, at the foot of the banks +beside unfrequented footpaths, in the stubble after the harvest, in the +tangles of dry grass, wherever the Spider spreads her nets, who has not +seen them busily at work, now running hither and thither, at random, their +wings raised and quivering above their backs, now moving from place to +place in flights long or short? They are hunting for a quarry which might +easily turn the tables and itself prey upon the trapper lying in wait for +it. + +The Pompili feed their larvae solely on Spiders; and the Spiders feed on +any insect, commensurate with their size, that is caught in their nets. +While the first possess a sting, the second have two poisoned fangs. Often +their strength is equally matched; indeed the advantage is not seldom on +the Spider's side. The Wasp has her ruses of war, her cunningly +premeditated strokes: the Spider has her wiles and her set traps; the first +has the advantage of great rapidity of movement, while the second is able +to rely upon her perfidious web; the one has a sting which contrives to +penetrate the exact point to cause paralysis, the other has fangs which +bite the back of the neck and deal sudden death. We find the paralyser on +the one hand and the slaughterer on the other. Which of the two will become +the other's prey? + +If we consider only the relative strength of the adversaries, the power of +their weapons, the virulence of their poisons and their different modes of +action, the scale would very often be weighted in favour of the Spider. +Since the Pompilus always emerges victorious from this contest, which +appears to be full of peril for her, she must have a special method, of +which I would fain learn the secret. + +In our part of the country, the most powerful and courageous Spider- +huntress is the Ringed Pompilus (Calicurgus annulatus, FAB.), clad in black +and yellow. She stands high on her legs; and her wings have black tips, the +rest being yellow, as though exposed to smoke, like a bloater. Her size is +about that of the Hornet (Vespa crabro). She is rare. I see three or four +of her in the course of the year; and I never fail to halt in the presence +of the proud insect, rapidly striding through the dust of the fields when +the dog-days arrive. Its audacious air, its uncouth gait, its war-like +bearing long made me suspect that to obtain its prey it had to make some +impossible, terrible, unspeakable capture. And my guess was correct. By +dint of waiting and watching I beheld that victim; I saw it in the +huntress' mandibles. It is the Black-bellied Tarantula, the terrible Spider +who slays a Carpenter-bee or a Bumble-bee outright with one stroke of her +weapon; the Spider who kills a Sparrow or a Mole; the formidable creature +whose bite would perhaps not be without danger to ourselves. Yes, this is +the bill of fare which the proud Pompilus provides for her larva. + +This spectacle, one of the most striking with which the Hunting Wasps have +ever provided me, has as yet been offered to my eyes but once; and that was +close beside my rural home, in the famous laboratory of the harmas. (The +enclosed piece of waste land on which the author studied his insects in +their native state. Cf. "The Life of the Fly," by J. Henri Fabre, +translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) +I can still see the intrepid poacher dragging by the leg, at the foot of a +wall, the monstrous prize which she had just secured, doubtless at no great +distance. At the base of the wall was a hole, an accidental chink between +some of the stones. The Wasp inspected the cavern, not for the first time: +she had already reconnoitred it and the premises had satisfied her. The +prey, deprived of the power of movement, was waiting somewhere, I know not +where; and the huntress had gone back to fetch it and store it away. It was +at this moment that I met her. The Pompilus gave a last glance at the cave, +removed a few small fragments of loose mortar; and with that her +preparations were completed. The Lycosa (The Spider in question is known +indifferently as the Black-bellied Tarantula and the Narbonne Lycosa.-- +Translator's Note.) was introduced, dragged along, belly upwards, by one +leg. I did not interfere. Presently the Wasp reappeared on the surface and +carelessly pushed in front of the hole the bits of mortar which she had +just extracted from it. Then she flew away. It was all over. The egg was +laid; the insect had finished for better or for worse; and I was able to +proceed with my examination of the burrow and its contents. + +The Pompilus has done no digging. It is really an accidental hole with +spacious winding passages, the result of the mason's negligence and not of +the Wasp's industry. The closing of the cavity is quite as rough and +summary. A few crumbs of mortar, heaped up before the doorway, form a +barricade rather than a door. A mighty hunter makes a poor architect. The +Tarantula's murderess does not know how to dig a cell for her larva; she +does not know how to fill up the entrance by sweeping dust into it. The +first hole encountered at the foot of a wall contents her, provided that it +be roomy enough; a little heap of rubbish will do for a door. Nothing could +be more expeditious. + +I withdraw the game from the hole. The egg is stuck to the Spider, near the +beginning of the belly. A clumsy movement on my part makes it fall off at +the moment of extraction. It is all over: the thing will not hatch; I shall +not be able to observe the development of the larva. The Tarantula lies +motionless, flexible as in life, with not a trace of a wound. In short, we +have here life without movement. From time to time the tips of the tarsi +quiver a little; and that is all. Accustomed of old to these deceptive +corpses, I can see in my mind's eye what has happened: the Spider has been +stung in the region of the thorax, no doubt once only, in view of the +concentration of her nervous system. I place the victim in a box in which +it retains all the pliancy and all the freshness of life from the 2nd of +August to the 20th of September, that is to say, for seven weeks. These +miracles are familiar to us (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": passim.--Translator's +Note.); there is no need to linger over them here. + +The most important matter has escaped me. What I wanted, what I still want +to see is the Pompilus engaged in mortal combat with the Lycosa. What a +duel, in which the cunning of the one has to overcome the terrible weapons +of the other! Does the Wasp enter the burrow to surprise the Tarantula at +the bottom of her lair? Such temerity would be fatal to her. Where the big +Bumble-bee dies an instant death, the audacious visitor would perish the +moment she entered. Is not the other there, facing her, ready to snap at +the back of her head, inflicting a wound which would result in sudden +death? No, the Pompilus does not enter the Spider's parlour, that is +obvious. Does she surprise the Spider outside her fortress? But the Lycosa +is a stay-at-home animal; I do not see her straying abroad during the +summer. Later, in the autumn, when the Pompili have disappeared, She +wanders about; turning gipsy, she takes the open air with her numerous +family, which she carries on her back. Apart from these maternal strolls, +she does not appear to me to leave her castle; and the Pompilus, I should +think, has no great chance of meeting her outside. The problem, we +perceive, is becoming complicated: the huntress cannot make her way into +the burrow, where she would risk sudden death; and the Spider's sedentary +habits make an encounter outside the burrow improbable. Here is a riddle +which would be interesting to decipher. Let us endeavour to do so by +observing other Spider-hunters; analogy will enable us to draw a +conclusion. + +I have often watched Pompili of every species on their hunting-expeditions, +but I have never surprised them entering the Spider's lodging when the +latter was at home. Whether this lodging be a funnel plunging its neck into +a hole in some wall, an awning stretched amid the stubble, a tent modelled +upon the Arab's, a sheath formed of a few leaves bound together, or a net +with a guard-room attached, whenever the owner is indoors the suspicious +Pompilus holds aloof. When the dwelling is vacant, it is another matter: +the Wasp moves with arrogant ease over those webs, springes and cables in +which so many other insects would remain ensnared. The silken threads do +not seem to have any hold upon her. What is she doing, exploring those +empty webs? She is watching to see what is happening on the adjacent webs +where the Spider is ambushed. The Pompilus therefore feels an insuperable +reluctance to make straight for the Spider when the latter is at home in +the midst of her snares. And she is right, a hundred times over. If the +Tarantula understands the practice of the dagger-thrust in the neck, which +is immediately fatal, the other cannot be unacquainted with it. Woe then to +the imprudent Wasp who presents herself upon the threshold of a Spider of +approximately equal strength! + +Of the various instances which I have collected of this cautious reserve on +the Spider-huntress' part I will confine myself to the following, which +will be sufficient to prove my point. By joining, with silken strands, the +three folioles which form the leaf of Virgil's cytisus, a Spider has built +herself a green arbour, a horizontal sheath, open at either end. A questing +Pompilus comes upon the scene, finds the game to her liking and pops in her +head at the entrance of the cell. The Spider immediately retreats to the +other end. The huntress goes round the Spider's dwelling and reappears at +the other door. Again the Spider retreats, returning to the first entrance. +The Wasp also returns to it, but always by the outside. Scarcely has she +done so, when the Spider rushes for the opposite opening; and so on for +fully a quarter of an hour, both of them coming and going from one end of +the cylinder to the other, the Spider inside and the Pompilus outside. + +The quarry was a valuable one, it seems, since the Wasp persisted for a +long time in her attempts, which were invariably defeated; however, the +huntress had to abandon them, baffled by this perpetual running to and fro. +The Pompilus made off; and the Spider, once more on the watch, patiently +awaited the heedless Midges. What should the Wasp have done to capture this +much-coveted game? She should have entered the verdant cylinder, the +Spider's dwelling, and pursued the Spider direct, in her own house, instead +of remaining outside, going from one door to the other. With such swiftness +and dexterity as hers, it seemed to me impossible that the stroke should +fail: the quarry moved clumsily, a little sideways, like a Crab. I judged +it to be an easy matter; the Pompilus thought it highly dangerous. To-day I +am of her opinion: if she had entered the leafy tube, the mistress of the +house would have operated on her neck and the huntress would have become +the quarry. + +Years passed and the paralyser of the Spiders still refused to reveal her +secret; I was badly served by circumstances, could find no leisure, was +absorbed in unrelenting preoccupations. At length, during my last year at +Orange, the light dawned upon me. My garden was enclosed by an old wall, +blackened and ruined by time, where, in the chinks between the stones, +lived a population of Spiders, represented more particularly by Segestria +perfidia. This is the common Black Spider, or Cellar Spider. She is deep +black all over, excepting the mandibles, which are a splendid metallic +green. Her two poisoned daggers look like a product of the metal-worker's +art, like the finest bronze. In any mass of abandoned masonry there is not +a quiet corner, not a hole the size of one's finger, in which the Segestria +does not set up house. Her web is a widely flaring funnel, whose open end, +at most a span across, lies spread upon the surface of the wall, where it +is held in place by radiating threads. This conical surface is continued by +a tube which runs into a hole in the wall. At the end is the dining-room to +which the Spider retires to devour at her ease her captured prey. + +With her two hind-legs stuck into the tube to obtain a purchase and the six +others spread around the orifice, the better to perceive on every side the +quiver which gives the signal of a capture, the Segestria waits motionless, +at the entrance of her funnel, for an insect to become entangled in the +snare. Large Flies, Drone-flies, dizzily grazing some thread of the snare +with their wings, are her usual victims. At the first flutter of the netted +Fly, the Spider runs or even leaps forward, but she is now secured by a +cord which escapes from the spinnerets and which has its end fastened to +the silken tube. This prevents her from falling as she darts along a +vertical surface. Bitten at the back of the head, the Drone-fly is dead in +a moment; and the Segestria carries him into her lair. + +Thanks to this method and these hunting-appliances--an ambush at the bottom +of a silken whirlpool, radiating snares, a life-line which holds her from +behind and allows her to take a sudden rush without risking a fall--the +Segestria is able to catch game less inoffensive than the Drone-fly. A +Common Wasp, they tell me, does not daunt her. Though I have not tested +this, I readily believe it, for I well know the Spider's boldness. + +This boldness is reinforced by the activity of the venom. It is enough to +have seen the Segestria capture some large Fly to be convinced of the +overwhelming effect of her fangs upon the insects bitten in the neck. The +death of the Drone-fly, entangled in the silken funnel, is reproduced by +the sudden death of the Bumble-bee on entering the Tarantula's burrow. We +know the effect of the poison on man, thanks to Antoine Duges' +investigations. (Antoine Louis Duges (1797-1838), a French physician and +physiologist, author of a "Traite de physiologie comparee de l'homme et des +animaux" and other scientific works.--Translator's Note.) Let us listen to +the brave experimenter: + +"The treacherous Segestria, or Great Cellar Spider, reputed poisonous in +our part of the country, was chosen for the principal subject of our +experiments. She was three-quarters of an inch long, measured from the +mandibles to the spinnerets. Taking her in my fingers from behind, by the +legs, which were folded and gathered together (this is the way to catch +hold of live Spiders, if you would avoid their bite and master them without +mutilating them), I placed her on various objects and on my clothes, +without her manifesting the least desire to do any harm; but hardly was she +laid on the bare skin of my fore-arm when she seized a fold of the +epidermis in her powerful mandibles, which are of a metallic green, and +drove her fangs deep into it. For a few moments she remained hanging, +although left free; then she released herself, fell and fled, leaving two +tiny wounds, a sixth of an inch apart, red, but hardly bleeding, with a +slight extravasation round the edge and resembling the wounds produced by a +large pin. + +"At the moment of the bite, the sensation was sharp enough to deserve the +name of pain; and this continued for five or six minutes more, but not so +forcibly. I might compare it with the sensation produced by the stinging- +nettle. A whitish tumefaction almost immediately surrounded the two pricks; +and the circumference, within a radius of about an inch, was coloured an +erysipelas red, accompanied by a very slight swelling. In an hour and a +half, it had all disappeared, except the mark of the pricks, which +persisted for several days, as any other small wound would have done. This +was in September, in rather cool weather. Perhaps the symptoms would have +displayed somewhat greater severity at a warmer season." + +Without being serious, the effect of the Segestria's poison is plainly +marked. A sting causing sharp pain and swelling, with the redness of +erysipelas, is no trifling matter. While Duges' experiment reassures us in +so far as we ourselves are concerned, it is none the less the fact that the +Cellar Spider's poison is a terrible thing for insects, whether because of +the small size of the victim, or because it acts with special efficacy upon +an organization which differs widely from our own. One Pompilus, though +greatly inferior to the Segestria in size and strength, nevertheless makes +war upon the Black Spider and succeeds in overpowering this formidable +quarry. This is Pompilus apicalis, VAN DER LIND, who is hardly larger than +the Hive-bee, but very much slenderer. She is of a uniform black; her wings +are a cloudy brown, with transparent tips. Let us follow her in her +expeditions to the old wall inhabited by the Segestria: we will track her +for whole afternoons during the July heats; and we will arm ourselves with +patience, for the perilous capture of the game must take the Wasp a long +time. + +The Spider-huntress explores the wall minutely; she runs, leaps and flies; +she comes and goes, flitting to and fro. The antennae quiver; the wings, +raised above the back, continually beat one against the other. Ah, here she +is, close to a Segestria's funnel! The Spider, who has hitherto remained +invisible, instantly appears at the entrance to the tube; she spreads her +six fore-legs outside, ready to receive the huntress. Far from fleeing +before the terrible apparition, she watches the watcher, fully prepared to +prey upon her enemy. Before this intrepid demeanour the Pompilus draws +back. She examines the coveted game, walks round it for a moment, then goes +away without attempting anything. When she has gone, the Segestria retires +indoors, backwards. For the second time the Wasp passes near an inhabited +funnel. The Spider on the lookout at once shows herself on the threshold of +her dwelling, half out of her tube, ready for defence and perhaps also for +attack. The Pompilus moves away and the Segestria reenters her tube. A +fresh alarm: the Pompilus returns; another threatening demonstration on the +part of the Spider. Her neighbour, a little later, does better than this: +while the huntress is prowling about in the neighbourhood of the funnel, +she suddenly leaps out of the tube, with the lifeline which will save her +from falling, should she miss her footing, attached to her spinnerets; she +rushes forward and hurls herself in front of the Pompilus, at a distance of +some eight inches from her burrow. The Wasp, as though terrified, +immediately decamps; and the Segestria no less suddenly retreats indoors. + +Here, we must admit, is a strange quarry: it does not hide, but is eager to +show itself; it does not run away, but flings itself in front of the +hunter. If our observations were to cease here, could we say which of the +two is the hunter and which the hunted? Should we not feel sorry for the +imprudent Pompilus? Let a thread of the trap entangle her leg; and it is +all up with her. The other will be there, stabbing her in the throat. What +then is the method which she employs against the Segestria, always on the +alert, ready for defence, audacious to the point of aggression? Shall I +surprise the reader if I tell him that this problem filled me with the most +eager interest, that it held me for weeks in contemplation before that +cheerless wall? Nevertheless, my tale will be a short one. + +On several occasions I see the Pompilus suddenly fling herself on one of +the Spider's legs, seize it with her mandibles and endeavour to draw the +animal from its tube. It is a sudden rush, a surprise attack, too quick to +permit the Spider to parry it. Fortunately, the latter's two hind-legs are +firmly hooked to the dwelling; and the Segestria escapes with a jerk, for +the other, having delivered her shock attack, hastens to release her hold; +if she persisted, the affair might end badly for her. Having failed in this +assault, the Wasp repeats the procedure at other funnels; she will even +return to the first when the alarm is somewhat assuaged. Still hopping and +fluttering, she prowls around the mouth, whence the Segestria watches her, +with her legs outspread. She waits for the propitious moment; she leaps +forward, seizes a leg, tugs at it and springs out of reach. More often than +not, the Spider holds fast; sometimes she is dragged out of the tube, to a +distance of a few inches, but immediately returns, no doubt with the aid of +her unbroken lifeline. + +The Pompilus' intention is plain: she wants to eject the Spider from her +fortress and fling her some distance away. So much perseverance leads to +success. This time all goes well: with a vigorous and well-timed tug the +Wasp has pulled the Segestria out and at once lets her drop to the ground. +Bewildered by her fall and even more demoralized by being wrested from her +ambush, the Spider is no longer the bold adversary that she was. She draws +her legs together and cowers into a depression in the soil. The huntress is +there on the instant to operate on the evicted animal. I have barely time +to draw near to watch the tragedy when the victim is paralysed by a thrust +of the sting in the thorax. + +Here at last, in all its Machiavellian cunning, is the shrewd method of the +Pompilus. She would be risking her life if she attacked the Segestria in +her home; the Wasp is so convinced of it that she takes good care not to +commit this imprudence; but she knows also that, once dislodged from her +dwelling, the Spider is as timid, as cowardly as she was bold at the centre +of her funnel. The whole point of her tactics, therefore, lies in +dislodging the creature. This done, the rest is nothing. + +The Tarantula-huntress must behave in the same manner. Enlightened by her +kinswoman, Pompilus apicalis, my mind pictures her wandering stealthily +around the Lycosa's rampart. The Lycosa hurries up from the bottom of her +burrow, believing that a victim is approaching; she ascends her vertical +tube, spreading her fore-legs outside, ready to leap. But it is the Ringed +Pompilus who leaps, seizes a leg, tugs and hurls the Lycosa from her +burrow. The Spider is henceforth a craven victim, who will let herself be +stabbed without dreaming of employing her venomous fangs. Here craft +triumphs over strength; and this craft is not inferior to mine, when, +wishing to capture the Tarantula, I make her bite a spike of grass which I +dip into the burrow, lead her gently to the surface and then with a sudden +jerk throw her outside. For the entomologist as for the Pompilus, the +essential thing is to make the Spider leave her stronghold. After this +there is no difficulty in catching her, thanks to the utter bewilderment of +the evicted animal. + +Two contrasting points impress me in the facts which I have just set forth: +the shrewdness of the Pompilus and the folly of the Spider. I will admit +that the Wasp may gradually have acquired, as being highly beneficial to +her posterity, the instinct by which she first of all so judiciously drags +the victim from its refuge, in order there to paralyse it without incurring +danger, provided that you will explain why the Segestria, possessing an +intellect no less gifted than that of the Pompilus, does not yet know how +to counteract the trick of which she has so long been the victim. What +would the Black Spider need to do to escape her exterminator? Practically +nothing: it would be enough for her to withdraw into her tube, instead of +coming up to post herself at the entrance, like a sentry, whenever the +enemy is in the neighbourhood. It is very brave of her, I agree, but also +very risky. The Pompilus will pounce upon one of the legs spread outside +the burrow for defence and attack; and the besieged Spider will perish, +betrayed by her own boldness. This posture is excellent when waiting for +prey. But the Wasp is not a quarry; she is an enemy and one of the most +dreaded of enemies. The Spider knows this. At the sight of the Wasp, +instead of placing herself fearlessly but foolishly on her threshold, why +does she not retreat into her fortress, where the other would not attack +her? The accumulated experience of generations should have taught her this +elementary tactical device, which is of the greatest value to the +prosperity of her race. If the Pompilus has perfected her method of attack, +why has not the Segestria perfected her method of defence? Is it possible +that centuries upon centuries should have modified the one to its advantage +without succeeding in modifying the other? Here I am utterly at a loss. And +I say to myself, in all simplicity: since the Pompili must have Spiders, +the former have possessed their patient cunning and the other their foolish +audacity from all time. This may be puerile, if you like to think it so, +and not in keeping with the transcendental aims of our fashionable +theorists; the argument contains neither the subjective nor the objective +point of view, neither adaptation nor differentiation, neither atavism nor +evolutionism. Very well, but at least I understand it. + +Let us return to the habits of Pompilus apicalis. Without expecting results +of any particular interest, for in captivity the respective talents of the +huntress and the quarry seem to slumber, I place together, in a wide jar, a +Wasp and a Segestria. The Spider and her enemy mutually avoid each other, +both being equally timid. A judicious shake or two brings them into +contact. The Segestria, from time to time, catches hold of the Pompilus, +who gathers herself up as best she can, without attempting to use her +sting; the Spider rolls the insect between her legs and even between her +mandibles, but appears to dislike doing it. Once I see her lie on her back +and hold the Pompilus above her, as far away as possible, while turning her +over in her fore-legs and munching at her with her mandibles. The Wasp, +whether by her own adroitness or owing to the Spider's dread of her, +promptly escapes from the terrible fangs, moves to a short distance and +does not seem to trouble unduly about the buffeting which she has received. +She quietly polishes her wings and curls her antennae by pulling them while +standing on them with her fore-tarsi. The attack of the Segestria, +stimulated by my shakes, is repeated ten times over; and the Pompilus +always escapes from the venomous fangs unscathed, as though she were +invulnerable. + +Is she really invulnerable? By no means, as we shall soon have proved to +us; if she retires safe and sound, it is because the Spider does not use +her fangs. What we see is a sort of truce, a tacit convention forbidding +deadly strokes, or rather the demoralization due to captivity; and the two +adversaries are no longer in a sufficiently warlike mood to make play with +their daggers. The tranquillity of the Pompilus, who keeps on jauntily +curling her antennae in face of the Segestria, reassures me as to my +prisoner's fate; for greater security, however, I throw her a scrap of +paper, in the folds of which she will find a refuge during the night. She +instals herself there, out of the Spider's reach. Next morning I find her +dead. During the night the Segestria, whose habits are nocturnal, has +recovered her daring and stabbed her enemy. I had my suspicions that the +parts played might be reversed! The butcher of yesterday is the victim of +to-day. + +I replace the Pompilus by a Hive-bee. The interview is not protracted. Two +hours later, the Bee is dead, bitten by the Spider. A Drone-fly suffers the +same fate. The Segestria, however, does not touch either of the two +corpses, any more than she touched the corpse of the Pompilus. In these +murders the captive seems to have no other object than to rid herself of a +turbulent neighbour. When appetite awakes, perhaps the victims will be +turned to account. They were not; and the fault was mine. I placed in the +jar a Bumble-bee of average size. A day later the Spider was dead; the rude +sharer of her captivity had done the deed. + +Let us say no more of these unequal duels in the glass prison and complete +the story of the Pompilus whom we left at the foot of the wall with the +paralysed Segestria. She abandons her prey on the ground and returns to the +wall. She visits the Spider's funnels one by one, walking on them as freely +as on the stones; she inspects the silken tubes, dipping her antennae into +them, sounding and exploring them; she enters without the least hesitation. +Whence does she now derive the temerity thus to enter the Segestria's +haunts? But a little while ago, she was displaying extreme caution; at this +moment, she seems heedless of danger. The fact is that there is no danger +really. The Wasp is inspecting uninhabited houses. When she dives down a +silken tunnel, she very well knows that there is no one in, for, had the +Segestria been there, she would by this time have appeared on the +threshold. The fact that the householder does not show herself at the first +vibration of the neighbouring threads is a certain proof that the tube is +vacant; and the Pompilus enters in full security. I would recommend future +observers not to take the present investigations for hunting-tactics. I +have already remarked and I repeat: the Pompilus never enters the silken +ambush while the Spider is there. + +Among the funnels inspected one appears to suit her better than the others; +she returns to it frequently in the course of her investigations, which +last for nearly an hour. From time to time she hastens back to the Spider +lying on the ground; she examines her, tugs at her, drags her a little +closer to the wall, then leaves her the better to reconnoitre the tunnel +which is the object of her preference. Lastly she returns to the Segestria +and takes her by the tip of the abdomen. The quarry is so heavy that she +has great difficulty in moving it along the level ground. Two inches divide +it from the wall. She gets to the wall, not without effort; nevertheless, +once the wall is reached, the job is quickly done. We learn that Antaeus, +the son of Mother Earth, in his struggle with Hercules, received new +strength as often as his feet touched the ground; the Pompilus, the +daughter of the wall, seems to increase her powers tenfold once she has set +foot on the masonry. + +For here is the Wasp hoisting her prey backwards, her enormous prey, which +dangles beneath her. She climbs now a vertical plane, now a slope, +according to the uneven surface of the stones. She crosses gaps where she +has to go belly uppermost, while the quarry swings to and fro in the air. +Nothing stops her; she keeps on climbing, to a height of six feet or more, +without selecting her path, without seeing her goal, since she goes +backwards. A lodge appears no doubt reconnoitred beforehand and reached, +despite the difficulties of an ascent which did not allow her to see it. +The Pompilus lays her prey on it. The silken tube which she inspected so +lovingly is only some eight inches distant. She goes to it, examines it +rapidly and returns to the Spider, whom she at length lowers down the tube. + +Shortly afterwards I see her come out again. She searches here and there on +the wall for a few scraps of mortar, two or three fairly large pieces, +which she carries to the tube, to close it up. The task is done. She flies +away. + +Next day I inspect this strange burrow. The Spider is at the bottom of the +silken tube, isolated on every side, as though in a hammock. The Wasp's egg +is glued not to the ventral surface of the victim but to the back, about +the middle, near the beginning of the abdomen. It is white, cylindrical and +about a twelfth of an inch long. The few bits of mortar which I saw carried +have but very roughly blocked the silken chamber at the end. Thus Pompilus +apicalis lays her quarry and her eggs not in a burrow of her own making, +but in the Spider's actual house. Perhaps the silken tube belongs to this +very victim, which in that event provides both board and lodging. What a +shelter for the larva of this Pompilus: the warm retreat and downy hammock +of the Segestria! + +Here then, already, we have two Spider-huntresses, the Ringed Pompilus and +P. apicalis, who, unversed in the miner's craft, establish their offspring +inexpensively in accidental chinks in the walls, or even in the lair of the +Spider on whom the larva feeds. In these cells, acquired without exertion, +they build only an attempt at a wall with a few fragments of mortar. But we +must beware of generalizing about this expeditious method of establishment. +Other Pompili are true diggers, valiantly sinking a burrow in the soil, to +a depth of a couple of inches. These include the Eight-spotted Pompilus (P. +octopunctatus, PANZ.), with her black-and-yellow livery and her amber +wings, a little darker at the tips. For her game she chooses the Epeirae +(E. fasciata, E. sericea) (For the Garden-spiders known as the Banded +Epeira and the Silky Epeira cf. "The Life of the Spider": chapters 11, 13, +14 et passim.--Translator's Note.), those fat Spiders, magnificently +adorned, who lie in wait at the centre of their large, vertical webs. I am +not sufficiently acquainted with her habits to describe them; above all, I +know nothing of her hunting-tactics. But her dwelling is familiar to me: it +is a burrow, which I have seen her begin, complete and close according to +the customary method of the Digger-wasps. + + +CHAPTER 2. THE SCOLIAE. + +Were strength to take precedence over the other zoological attributes, the +Scoliae would hold a predominant place in the front rank of the Wasps. Some +of them may be compared in size with the little bird from the north, the +Golden-crested Wren, who comes to us at the time of the first autumn mists +and visits the rotten buds. The largest and most imposing of our sting- +bearers, the Carpenter-bee, the Bumble-bee, the Hornet, cut a poor figure +beside certain of the Scoliae. Of this group of giants my district +possesses the Garden Scolia (S. hortorum, VAN DER LIND), who is over an +inch and a half in length and measures four inches from tip to tip of her +outspread wings, and the Hemorrhoidal Scolia (S. haemorrhoidalis, VAN DER +LIND), who rivals the Garden Scolia in point of size and is distinguished +more particularly by the bundle of red hairs bristling at the tip of the +abdomen. + +A black livery, with broad yellow patches; leathery wings, amber-coloured, +like the skin of an onion, and watered with purple reflections; thick, +knotted legs, covered with sharp hairs; a massive frame; a powerful head, +encased in a hard cranium; a stiff, clumsy gait; a low, short, silent +flight: this gives you a concise description of the female, who is strongly +equipped for her arduous task. The male, being a mere philanderer, sports a +more elegant pair of horns, is more daintily clad and has a more graceful +figure, without altogether losing the quality of robustness which is his +consort's leading characteristic. + +It is not without a certain alarm that the insect-collector finds himself +for the first time confronted by the Garden Scolia. How is he to capture +the imposing creature, how to avoid its sting? If its effect is in +proportion to the Wasp's size, the sting of the Scolia must be something +terrible. The Hornet, though she unsheath her weapon but once, causes the +most exquisite pain. What would it be like if one were stabbed by this +colossus? The prospect of a swelling as big as a man's fist and as painful +as the touch of a red-hot iron passes through our mind at the moment when +we are bringing down the net. And we refrain, we beat a retreat, we are +greatly relieved not to have aroused the dangerous creature's attention. + +Yes, I confess to having run away from my first Scoliae, anxious though I +was to enrich my budding collection with this magnificent insect. There +were painful recollections of the Common Wasp and the Hornet connected with +this excess of prudence. I say excess, for to-day, instructed by long +experience, I have quite recovered from my former fears; and, when I see a +Scolia resting on a thistle-head, I do not scruple to take her in my +fingers, without any precaution whatever, however large she may be and +however menacing her aspect. My courage is not all that it seems to be; I +am quite ready to tell the Wasp-hunting novice this. The Scoliae are +notably peaceable. Their sting is an implement of labour far more than a +weapon of war; they use it to paralyse the prey destined for their +offspring; and only in the last extremity do they employ it in self- +defence. Moreover, the lack of agility in their movements nearly always +enables us to avoid their sting; and, even if we be stung, the pain is +almost insignificant. This absence of any acute smarting as a result of the +poison is almost constant in the Hunting Wasps, whose weapon is a surgical +lancet and devised for the most delicate physiological operations. + +Among the other Scoliae of my district I will mention the Two-banded Scolia +(S. bifasciata, VAN DER LIND), whom I see every year, in September, working +at the heaps of leaf-mould which are placed for her benefit in a corner of +my paddock; and the Interrupted Scolia (S. interrupta, LATR.), the +inhabitant of the sandy soil at the foot of the neighbouring hills. Much +smaller than the two preceding insects, but also much commoner, a necessary +condition of continuous observation, they will provide me with the +principal data for this study of the Scoliae. + +I open my old note book; and I see myself once more, on the 6th of August, +1857, in the Bois des Issards, that famous copse near Avignon which I have +celebrated in my essay on the Bembex-wasps. (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": +chapter 14.--Translator's Note.) Once again, my head crammed with +entomological projects, I am at the beginning of my holidays which, for two +months, will allow me to indulge in the insect's company. + +A fig for Mariotte's flask and Toricelli's tube! (Edme Mariotte (1620- +1684), a French chemist who discovered, independently of Robert Boyle the +Irishman (1627-1691), the law generally known as Boyle's law, which states +that the product of the volume and the temperature of a gas is constant at +constant temperature. His flask is an apparatus contrived to illustrate +atmospheric pressure and ensure a constant flow of liquid.--Translator's +Note.) (Evangelista Toricelli (1608-1647), a disciple of Galileo and +professor of philosophy and mathematics at Florence. His "tube" is our +mercury barometer. He was the first to obtain a vacuum by means of mercury; +and he also improved the microscope and the telescope.--Translator's Note.) +This is the thrice-blest period when I cease to be a schoolmaster and +become a schoolboy, the schoolboy in love with animals. Like a madder- +cutter off for his day's work, I set out carrying over my shoulder a solid +digging-implement, the local luchet, and on my back my game-bag with boxes, +bottles, trowel, glass tubes, tweezers, lenses and other impedimenta. A +large umbrella saves me from sunstroke. It is the most scorching hour of +the hottest day in the year. Exhausted by the heat, the Cicadae are +silent. The bronze-eyed Gad-flies seek a refuge from the pitiless sun under +the roof of my silken shelter; other large Flies, the sobre-hued Pangoniae, +dash themselves recklessly against my face. + +The spot at which I have installed myself is a sandy clearing which I had +recognized the year before as a site beloved of the Scoliae. Here and there +are scattered thickets of holm-oak, whose dense undergrowth shelters a bed +of dead leaves and a thin layer of mould. My memory has served me well. +Here, sure enough, as the heat grows a little less, appear, coming I know +not from whence, some Two-banded Scoliae. The number increases; and it is +not long before I see very nearly a dozen of them about me, close enough +for observation. By their smaller size and more buoyant flight, they are +easily known for males. Almost grazing the ground, they fly softly, going +to and fro, passing and repassing in every direction. From time to time one +of them alights on the ground, feels the sand with his antennae and seems +to be enquiring into what is happening in the depths of the soil; then he +resumes his flight, alternately coming and going. + +What are they waiting for? What are they seeking in these evolutions of +theirs, which are repeated a hundred times over? Food? No, for close beside +them stand several eryngo-stems, whose sturdy clusters are the Wasps' usual +resource at this season of parched vegetation; and not one of them settles +upon the flowers, not one of them seems to care about their sugary +exudations. Their attention is engrossed elsewhere. It is the ground, it is +the stretch of sand which they are so assiduously exploring; what they are +waiting for is the arrival of some female, who bursting the cocoon, may +appear from one moment to the next, issuing all dusty from the ground. She +will not be given time to brush herself or to wash her eyes: three or four +more of them will be there at once, eager to dispute her possession. I am +too familiar with the amorous contests of the Hymenopteron clan to allow +myself to be mistaken. It is the rule for the males, who are the earlier of +the two, to keep a close guard around the natal spot and watch for the +emergence of the females, whom they pester with their pursuit the moment +they reach the light of day. This is the motive of the interminable ballet +of my Scoliae. Let us have patience: perhaps we shall witness the nuptials. + +The hours go by; the Pangoniae and the Gad-flies desert my umbrella; the +Scoliae grow weary and gradually disappear. It is finished. I shall see +nothing more to-day. I repeat my laborious expedition to the Bois des +Issards over and over again; and each time I see the males as assiduous as +ever in skimming over the ground. My perseverance deserved to succeed. It +did, though the success was very incomplete. Let me describe it, such as it +was; the future will fill up the gaps. + +A female issues from the soil before my eyes. She flies away, followed by +several males. With the luchet I dig at the point of emergence; and, as the +excavation progresses, I sift between my fingers the rubbish of sand mixed +with mould. In the sweat of my brow, as I may justly say, I must have +removed nearly a cubic yard of material, when at last I make a find. This +is a recently ruptured cocoon, to the side of which adheres an empty skin, +the last remnant of the game on which the larva fed that wrought the said +cocoon. Considering the good condition of its silken fabric, this cocoon +may have belonged to the Scolia who has just quitted her underground +dwelling before my eyes. As for the skin accompanying it, this has been so +much spoilt by the moisture of the soil and by the grassy roots that I +cannot determine its origin exactly. The cranium, however, which is better- +preserved, the mandibles and certain details of the general configuration +lead me to suspect the larva of a Lamellicorn. + +It is getting late. This is enough for to-day. I am worn out, but amply +repaid for my exertions by a broken cocoon and the puzzling skin of a +wretched grub. Young people who make a hobby of natural history, would you +like to discover whether the sacred fire flows in your veins? Imagine +yourselves returning from such an expedition. You are carrying on your +shoulder the peasant's heavy spade; your loins are stiff with the laborious +digging which you have just finished in a crouching position; the heat of +an August afternoon has set your brain simmering; your eyelids are tired by +the itch of an inflammation resulting from the overpowering light in which +you have been working; you have a devouring thirst; and before you lies the +dusty prospect of the miles that divide you from your well-earned rest. Yet +something stings within you; forgetful of your present woes you are +absolutely glad of your excursion. Why? Because you have in your possession +a shred of rotten skin. If this is so, my young friends, you may go ahead, +for you will do something, though I warn you that this does not mean, by a +long way, that you will get on in the world. + +I examined this shred of skin with all the care that it deserved. My first +suspicions were confirmed: a Lamellicorn, a Scarabaeid in the larval state, +is the first food of the Wasp whose cocoon I have just unearthed. But which +of the Scarabaeidae? And does this cocoon, my precious booty, really belong +to the Scoliae? The problem is beginning to take shape. To attempt its +solution we must go back to the Bois des Issards. + +I did go back and so often that my patience ended by being exhausted before +the problem of the Scoliae had received a satisfactory solution. The +difficulties are great indeed, under the conditions. Where am I to dig in +the indefinite stretch of sandy soil to light upon a spot frequented by the +Scoliae? The luchet is driven into the ground at random; and almost +invariably I find none of what I am seeking. To be sure, the males, flying +level with the ground, give me a hint, at the outset, with their certainty +of instinct, as to the spots where the females ought to be; but their hints +are very vague, because they go so far in every direction. If I wished to +examine the soil which a single male explores in his flight, with its +constantly changing course, I should have to turn over, to the depth of +perhaps a yard, at least four poles of earth. This is too much for my +strength and the time at my disposal. Then, as the season advances, the +males disappear, whereupon I am suddenly deprived of their hints. To know +more or less where I should thrust my luchet, I have only one resource +left, which is to watch for the females emerging from the ground or else +entering it. With a great expenditure of time and patience I have at last +had this windfall, very rarely, I admit. + +The Scoliae do not dig a burrow which can be compared with that of the +other Hunting Wasps; they have no fixed residence, with an unimpeded +gallery opening on the outer world and giving access to the cells, the +abodes of the larvae. They have no entrance- and exit-doors, no corridor +built in advance. If they have to make their way underground, any point not +hitherto turned over serves their purpose, provided that it be not too hard +for their digging-tools, which, for that matter, are very powerful; if they +have to come out, the point of exit is no less indifferent. The Scolia does +not bore the soil through which she passes: she excavates and ploughs it +with her legs and forehead; and the stuff shifted remains where it lies, +behind her, forthwith blocking the passage which she has followed. When she +is about to emerge into the outer world, her advent is heralded by the +fresh soil which heaps itself into a mound as though heaved up by the snout +of some tiny Mole. The insect sallies forth; and the mound collapses, +completely filling up the exit-hole. If the Wasp is entering the ground, +the digging-operations, undertaken at an arbitrary point, quickly yield a +cavity in which the Scolia disappears, separated from the surface by the +whole track of shifted material. + +I can easily trace her passage through the thickness of the soil by certain +long, winding cylinders, formed of loose materials in the midst of compact +and stable earth. These cylinders are numerous; they sometimes run to a +depth of twenty inches; they extend in all directions, fairly often +crossing one another. Not one of them ever exhibits so much as a suspicion +of an open gallery. They are obviously not permanent ways of communication +with the outer world, but hunting-trails which the insect has followed +once, without going back to them. What was the Wasp seeking when she +riddled the soil with these tunnels which are now full of running sands? No +doubt the food for her family, the larva of which I possess the empty skin, +now an unrecognizable shred. + +I begin to see a little light: the Scoliae are underground workers. I +already expected as much, having before now captured Scoliae soiled with +little earthy encrustations on the joints of the legs. The Wasp, who is so +careful to keep clean, taking advantage of the least leisure to brush and +polish herself, could never display such blemishes unless she were a +devoted earth-worker. I used to suspect their trade, now I know it. They +live underground, where they burrow in search of Lamellicorn-grubs, just as +the Mole burrows in search of the White Worm. (The larva of the Cockchafer. +This grub takes three years or more to arrive at maturity underground.-- +Translator's Note.) It is even possible that, after receiving the embraces +of the males, they but very rarely return to the surface, absorbed as they +are by their maternal duties; and this, no doubt, is why my patience +becomes exhausted in watching for their entrance and their emergence. + +It is in the subsoil that they establish themselves and travel to and fro; +with the help of their powerful mandibles, their hard cranium, their +strong, prickly legs, they easily make themselves paths in the loose earth. +They are living ploughshares. By the end of August, therefore, the female +population is for the most part underground, busily occupied in egg-laying +and provisioning. Everything seems to tell me that I should watch in vain +for the appearance of a few females in the broad daylight; I must resign +myself to excavating at random. + +The result was hardly commensurate with the labour which I expended on +digging. I found a few cocoons, nearly all broken, like the one which I +already possessed, and, like it, bearing on their side the tattered skin of +a larva of the same Scarabaeid. Two of these cocoons which are still intact +contained a dead adult Wasp. This was actually the Two-banded Scolia, a +precious discovery which changed my suspicions into a certainty. + +I also unearthed some cocoons, slightly different in appearance, containing +an adult inmate, likewise dead, in whom I recognized the Interrupted +Scolia. The remnants of the provisions again consisted of the empty skin of +a larva, also a Lamellicorn, but not the same as the one hunted by the +first Scolia. And this was all. Now here, now there, I shifted a few cubic +yards of soil, without managing to find fresh provisions with the egg or +the young larva. And yet it was the right season, the egg-laying season, +for the males, numerous at the outset, had grown rarer day by day until +they disappeared entirely. My lack of success was due to the uncertainty of +my excavations, in which I had nothing to guide me over the indefinite area +covered. + +If I could at least identify the Scarabaeidae whose larvae form the prey of +the two Scoliae, the problem would be half solved. Let us try. I collect +all that the luchet has turned up: larvae, nymphs and adult Beetles. My +booty comprises two species of Lamellicorns: Anoxia villosa and Euchlora +Julii, both of whom I find in the perfect state, usually dead, but +sometimes alive. I obtain a few of their nymphs, a great piece of luck, for +the larval skin which accompanies them will serve me as a standard of +comparison. I come upon plenty of larvae, of all ages. When I compare them +with the cast garment abandoned by the nymphs, I recognize some as +belonging to the Anoxia and the rest to the Euchlora. + +With these data, I perceive with absolute certainty that the empty skin +adhering to the cocoon of the Interrupted Scolia belongs to the Anoxia. As +for the Euchlora, she is not involved in the problem: the larva hunted by +the Two-banded Scolia does not belong to her any more than it belongs to +the Anoxia. Then with which Scarabaeid does the empty skin which is still +unknown to me correspond? The Lamellicorn whom I am seeking must exist in +the ground which I have been exploring, because the Two-banded Scolia has +established herself there. Later--oh, very long afterwards!--I recognized +where my search was at fault. In order not to find a network of roots +beneath my luchet and to render the work of excavation lighter, I was +digging the bare places, at some distance from the thickets of holm-oak; +and it was just in those thickets, which are rich in vegetable mould, that +I should have sought. There, near the old stumps, in the soil consisting of +dead leaves and rotting wood, I should certainly have come upon the larva +so greatly desired, as will be proved by what I have still to say. + +Here ends what my earlier investigations taught me. There is reason to +believe that the Bois des Issards would never have furnished me with the +precise data, in the form in which I wanted them. The remoteness of the +spot, the fatigue of the expeditions, which the heat rendered intensely +exhausting, the impossibility of knowing which points to attack would +undoubtedly have discouraged me before the problem had advanced a step +farther. Studies such as these call for home leisure and application, for +residence in a country village. You are then familiar with every spot in +your own grounds and the surrounding country and you can go to work with +certainty. + +Twenty-three years have passed; and here I am at Serignan, where I have +become a peasant, working by turns on my writing-pad and my cabbage-patch. +On the 14th of August, 1880, Favier (An ex-soldier who acted as the +author's gardener and factotum.--Translator's Note.) clears away a heap of +mould consisting of vegetable refuse and of leaves stacked in a corner +against the wall of the paddock. This clearance is considered necessary +because Bull, when the lovers' moon arrives, uses this hillock to climb to +the top of the wall and thence to repair to the canine wedding the news of +which is brought to him by the effluvia borne upon the air. His pilgrimage +fulfilled, he returns, with a discomfited look and a slit ear, but always +ready, once he has had his feed, to repeat the escapade. To put an end to +this licentious behaviour, which has cost him so many gaping wounds, we +decided to remove the heap of soil which serves him as a ladder of escape. + +Favier calls me while in the midst of his labours with the spade and +barrow: + +"Here's a find, sir, a great find! Come and look." + +I hasten to the spot. The find is a magnificent one indeed and of a nature +to fill me with delight, awakening all my old recollections of the Bois des +Issards. Any number of females of the Two-banded Scolia, disturbed at their +work, are emerging here and there from the depth of the soil. The cocoons +also are plentiful, each lying next to the skin of the victim on which the +larva has fed. They are all open but still fresh: they date from the +present generation; the Scoliae whom I unearth have quitted them not long +since. I learnt later, in fact, that the hatching took place in the course +of July. + +In the same heap of mould is a swarming colony of Scarabaeidae in the form +of larvae, nymphs and adult insects. It includes the largest of our +Beetles, the common Rhinoceros Beetle, or Oryctes nasicornis. I find some +who have been recently liberated, whose wing-cases, of a glossy brown, now +see the sunlight for the first time; I find others enclosed in their +earthen shell, almost as big as a Turkey's egg. More frequent is her +powerful larva, with its heavy paunch, bent into a hook. I note the +presence of a second bearer of the nasal horn, Oryctes Silenus, who is much +smaller than her kinswoman, and of Pentodon punctatus, a Scarabaeid who +ravages my lettuces. + +But the predominant population consists of Cetoniae, or Rosechafers, most +of them enclosed in their egg-shaped shells, with earthen walls encrusted +with dung. There are three different species: C. aurata, C. morio and C. +floricola. Most of them belong to the first species. Their larvae, which +are easily recognized by their singular talent for walking on their backs +with their legs in the air, are numbered by the hundred. Every age is +represented, from the new born grub to the podgy larva on the point of +building its shell. + +This time the problem of the victuals is solved. When I compare the larval +slough sticking to the Scolia's cocoons with the Cetonia-larvae or, better, +with the skin cast by these larvae, under cover of the cocoon, at the +moment of the nymphal transformation, I establish an absolute identity. The +Two-banded Scolia rations each of her eggs with a Cetonia-grub. Behold the +riddle which my irksome searches in the Bois des Issards had not enabled me +to solve. To-day, at my threshold, the difficult problem becomes child's +play. I can investigate the question easily to the fullest possible extent; +I need not put myself out at all; at any hour of the day, at any period +that seems favourable, I have the requisite elements before my eyes. Ah, +dear village, so poor, so countrified, how happily inspired was I when I +came to ask of you a hermit's retreat, where I could live in the company of +my beloved insects and, in so doing, set down not too unworthily a few +chapters of their wonderful history! + +According to the Italian observer Passerini, the Garden Scolia feeds her +family on the larvae of Oryctes nasicornis, in the heaps of old tan-waste +removed from the hot-houses. I do not despair of seeing this colossal Wasp +coming to establish herself one day in my heaps of leaf-mould, in which the +same Scarabaeid is swarming. Her rarity in my part of the country is +probably the only cause that has hitherto prevented the realization of my +wishes. + +I have just shown that the Two-banded Scolia feeds in infancy on Cetonia- +larvae and particularly on those of C. aurata, C. morio and C. floricola. +These three species dwell together in the rubbish-heap just explored; their +larvae differ so little that I should have to examine them minutely to +distinguish the one from the other; and even then I should not be certain +of succeeding. It seems probable that the Scolia does not choose between +them, that she uses all three indiscriminately. Perhaps she even assails +other larvae, inhabitants, like the foregoing, of heaps of rotting +vegetable-matter. I therefore set down the Cetonia genus generally as +forming the prey of the Two-banded Scolia. + +Lastly, round about Avignon, the Interrupted Scolia used to prey upon the +larva of the Shaggy Anoxia (A. villosa). At Serignan, which is surrounded +by the same kind of sandy soil, without other vegetation than a few sparse +seed-bearing grasses, I find her rationing her young with the Morning +Anoxia (A. matutinalis). Oryctes, Cetoniae and Anoxiae in the larval state: +here then is the prey of the three Scoliae whose habits we know. The three +Beetles are Lamellicorns, Scarabaeidae. We shall have occasion later to +consider the reason of this very striking coincidence. + +For the moment, the business in hand is to move the heap of leaf-mould to +some other place, with the wheelbarrow. This is Favier's work, while I +myself collect the disturbed population in glass jars, in order to put them +back into the new rubbish-heap with all the consideration which my plans +owe to them. The laying-time has not yet set in, for I find no eggs, no +young Scolia-larvae. September apparently will be the propitious month. But +there are bound to be many injured in the course of this upheaval; some of +the Scoliae have flown away who will perhaps have a certain difficulty in +finding the new site; I have disarranged everything in the overturned heap. +To allow tranquility to be restored and habit to resume its rounds, to give +the population time to increase and replace the fugitives and the injured, +it would be best, I think, to leave the heap alone this year and not to +resume my investigations until the next. After the thorough confusion due +to the removal, I should jeopardize success by being too precipitate. Let +us wait one year more. I decide accordingly, curb my impatience and resign +myself. We will simply confine ourselves to enlarging the heap, when the +leaves begin to fall, by accumulating the refuse that strews the paddock, +so that we may have a richer field of operations. + +In the following August, my visits to the mound of leaf-mould become a +daily habit. By two o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun has cleared the +adjacent pine-trees and is shining on the heap, numbers of male Scoliae +arrive from the neighbouring fields, where they have been slaking their +thirst on the eryngo-heads. Incessantly coming and going with an indolent +flight, they circle round the heap. If some female rise from the soil, +those who have seen her dart forward. A not very turbulent affray decides +which of the suitors shall be the possessor; and the couple fly away over +the wall. This is a repetition of what I used to see in the Bois des +Issards. By the time that August is over. The males have ceased to show +themselves. The mothers do not appear either: they are busy underground, +establishing their families. + +On the 2nd of September, I decide upon a search with my son Emile, who +handles the fork and the shovel, while I examine the clods dug up. Victory! +A magnificent result, finer than any that my fondest ambition would have +dared to contemplate! Here is a vast array of Cetonia-larvae, all flaccid, +motionless, lying on their backs, with a Scolia's egg sticking to the +centre of their abdomen; here are young Scolia-larvae dipping their heads +into the entrails of their victims; here are others farther advanced, +munching their last mouthfuls of a prey which is drained dry and reduced to +a skin; here are some laying the foundation of their cocoons with a reddish +silk, which looks as if it had been dyed in Bullock's blood; here are some +whose cocoons are finished. There is plenty of everything, from the egg to +the larva whose period of activity is over. I mark the 2nd of September as +a red-letter day; it has given me the final key to a riddle which has kept +me in suspense for nearly half a century. + +I place my spoils religiously in shallow, wide-mouthed glass jars +containing a layer of finely sifted mould. In this soft bed, which is +identical in character with the natal surroundings, I make some faint +impressions with my fingers, so many cavities, each of which receives one +of my subjects, one only. A pane of glass covers the mouth of the +receptacle. In this way I prevent a too rapid evaporation and keep my +nurselings under my eyes without fear of disturbing them. Now that all this +is in order, let us proceed to record events. + +The Cetonia-larvae which I find with a Scolia's egg upon their ventral +surface are distributed in the mould at random, without special cavities, +without any sign of some sort of structure. They are smothered in the +mould, just as are the larvae which have not been injured by the Wasp. As +my excavations in the Bois des Issards told me, the Scolia does not prepare +a lodging for her family; she knows nothing of the art of cell-building. +Her offspring occupies a fortuitous abode, on which the mother expends no +architectural pains. Whereas the other Hunting Wasps prepare a dwelling to +which the provisions are carried, sometimes from a distance, the Scolia +confines herself to digging her bed of leaf-mould until she comes upon a +Cetonia-larva. When she finds a quarry, she stabs it on the spot, in order +to immobilize it; and, again on the spot, she lays an egg on the ventral +surface of the paralysed creature. That is all. The mother goes in quest of +another prey without troubling further about the egg which has just been +laid. There is no effort of carting or building. At the very spot where the +Cetonia-grub is caught and paralysed, the Scolia-larva hatches, grows and +weaves its cocoon. The establishment of the family is thus reduced to the +simplest possible expression. + + +CHAPTER 3. A DANGEROUS DIET. + +The Scolia's egg is in no way exceptional in shape. It is white, +cylindrical, straight and about four millimetres long by one millimetre +thick. (About .156 x .039 inch.--Translator's Note.) It is fixed, by its +fore-end, upon the median line of the victim's abdomen, well to the rear of +the legs, near the beginning of the brown patch formed by the mass of food +under the skin. + +I watch the hatching. The grub, still wearing upon its hinder parts the +delicate pellicle which it has just shed, is fixed to the spot to which the +egg itself adhered by its cephalic extremity. A striking spectacle, that of +the feeble creature, only this moment hatched, boring, for its first +mouthful, into the paunch of its enormous prey, which lies stretched upon +its back. The nascent tooth takes a day over the difficult task. Next +morning the skin has yielded; and I find the new-born larva with its head +plunged into a small, round, bleeding wound. + +In size the grub is the same as the egg, whose dimensions I have just +given. Now the Cetonia-larva, to meet the Scolia's requirements, averages +thirty millimetres in length by nine in thickness (1.17 x .35 inch.-- +Translator's Note.), whence follows that its bulk is six or seven hundred +times as great as that of the newly-hatched grub of the Scolia. Here +certainly is a quarry which, were it active and capable of wriggling and +biting, would expose the nurseling to terrible attacks. The danger has been +averted by the mother's stiletto; and the fragile grub attacks the +monster's paunch with as little hesitation as though it were sucking the +breast. + +Day by day the young Scolia's head penetrates farther into the Cetonia's +belly. To pass through the narrow orifice made in the skin, the fore-part +of the body contracts and lengthens out, as though drawn through a die- +plate. The larva thus assumes a rather strange form. Its hinder half, which +is constantly outside the victim's belly, has the shape and fulness usual +in the larvae of the Digger-wasps, whereas the front half, which, once it +has dived under the skin of the exploited victim, does not come out again +until the time arrives for spinning the cocoon, tapers off suddenly into a +snake-like neck. This front part is moulded, so to speak, by the narrow +entrance-hole made in the skin and henceforth retains its slender +formation. As a matter of fact, a similar configuration recurs, in varying +degrees, in the larvae of the Digger-wasps whose ration consists of a bulky +quarry which takes a long time to consume. These include the Languedocian +Sphex, with her Ephippiger, and the Hairy Ammophila, with her Grey Worm. +There is none of this sudden constriction, dividing the creature into two +disparate halves, when the victuals consist of numerous and comparatively +small items. The larva then retains its usual shape, being obliged to pass, +at brief intervals, from one joint in its larder to the next. + +>From the first bite of the mandibles, until the whole head of game is +consumed, the Scolia-larva is never seen to withdraw its head and its long +neck from inside the creature which it is devouring. I suspect the reason +of this persistence in attacking a single point; I even seem to perceive +the need for a special art in the manner of eating. The Cetonia-larva is a +square meal in itself, one large dish, which has to retain a suitable +freshness until the end. The young Scolia, therefore, must attack with +discretion, at the unvarying point chosen by the mother on the ventral +surface, for the entrance-hole is at the exact point where the egg was +fixed. As the nurseling's neck lengthens and dives deeper, the victim's +entrails are nibbled gradually and methodically: first, the least +essential; next, those whose removal leaves yet a remnant of life; lastly, +those whose loss inevitably entails death, followed very soon by +putrefaction. + +At the first bites we see the victim's blood oozing through the wound. It +is a highly-elaborated fluid, easy of digestion, and forms a sort of milk- +diet for the new-born grub. The little ogre's teat is the bleeding paunch +of the Cetonia-larva. The latter will not die of the wound, at least not +for some time. The next thing to be tackled is the fatty substance which +wraps the internal organs in its delicate folds. This again is a loss which +the Cetonia can suffer without dying then and there. Now comes the turn of +the muscular layer which lines the skin; now, that of the essential organs; +now, that of the nerve-centres and the trachean network, whereupon the last +gleam of light is extinguished and the Cetonia reduced to a mere bag, empty +but intact, save for the entrance-hole made in the middle of the belly. +>From now onwards, these remains may rot if they will: the Scolia, by its +methodical fashion of consuming its victuals, has succeeded in keeping them +fresh to the very last; and now you may see it, replete, shining with +health, withdraw its long neck from the bag of skin and prepare to weave +the cocoon in which its development will be completed. + +It is possible that I may not be quite accurate as to the precise order in +which the organs are consumed, for it is not easy to perceive what happens +inside the exploited larva's body. The ruling feature in this scientific +method of eating, which proceeds from the parts less to the parts more +necessary to preserve a remnant of life, is none the less obvious. If +direct observation did not already to some degree confirm it, a mere +examination of the half-eaten larva would do so in the most positive +fashion. + +The Cetonia-larva is at first a plump grub. Drained by the Scolia's tooth, +it gradually becomes limp and wrinkled. In a few days' time it resembles a +shrivelled bit of bacon-fat and then a bag whose two sides have fallen in. +Yet this bit of bacon and this bag have the same characteristic look of +fresh meat as had the grub before it was bitten into. Despite the +persistent nibbling of the Scolia, life continues, holding at bay the +inroads of putrefaction until the mandibles have given their last bites. +Does not this remnant of tenacious vitality in itself show that the organs +of primary importance are the last to be attacked? Does it not prove that +there is a progressive dismemberment passing from the less essential to the +indispensable? + +Would you like to see what becomes of a Cetonia-larva when the organism is +wounded in its vital centres at the very beginning? The experiment is an +easy one; and I made a point of trying it. A sewing-needle, first softened +and flattened into a blade, then retempered and sharpened, gives me a most +delicate scalpel. With this instrument I make a fine incision, through +which I remove the mass of nerves whose remarkable structure we shall soon +have occasion to study. The thing is done: the wound, which does not look +serious, has left the creature a corpse, a real corpse. I lay my victim on +a bed of moist earth, in a jar with a glass lid; in fact, I establish it in +the same conditions as those of the larvae on which the Scoliae feed. By +the next day, without changing shape, it has turned a repulsive brown; +presently it dissolves into noisome putrescence. On the same bed of earth, +under the same glass cover, in the same moist, warm atmosphere, the larvae +three-quarters eaten by the Scoliae retain, on the contrary, the appearance +of healthy flesh. + +If a single stroke of my dagger, fashioned from the point of a needle, +results in immediate death and early putrefaction; if the repeated bites of +the Scolia gut the creature's body and reduce it almost to a skin without +completely killing it, the striking contrast between these two results must +be due to the relative importance of the organs injured. I destroy the +nerve-centres and inevitably kill my larva, which is putrid by the +following day; the Scolia attacks the reserves of fat, the blood, the +muscles and does not kill its victim, which will provide it with wholesome +food until the end. But it is clear that, if the Scolia were to set to work +as I did, there would be nothing left, after the first few bites, but an +actual corpse, discharging fluids which would be fatal to it within twenty- +four hours. The mother, it is true, in order to assure the immobility of +her prey, has injected the poison of her sting into the nerve-centres. Her +operation cannot be compared with mine in any respect. She practises the +method of the skilful physiologist who induces anaesthesia; I go to work +like the butcher who chops, cuts and disembowels. The sting leaves the +nerve-centres intact. Deprived of sensibility by the poison, they have lost +the power of provoking muscular contractions; but who can say that, numbed +as they are, they no longer serve to maintain a faint vitality? The flame +is extinguished, but there is still a glowing speck upon the wick. I, a +rough blunderer, do more than blow out the lamp: I throw away the wick and +all is over. The grub would do the same if it bit straight into the mass of +nerves. + +Everything confirms the fact: the Scolia and the other Hunting Wasps whose +provisions consist of bulky heads of game are gifted with a special art of +eating, an exquisitely delicate art which saves a remnant of life in the +prey devoured, until it is all consumed. When the prey is a small one, this +precaution is superfluous. Consider, for instance, the Bembex-grubs in the +midst of their heap of Flies. The prey seized upon is broached on the back, +the belly, the head, the thorax, indifferently. The larva munches a given +spot, which it leaves to munch a second, passing to a third and a fourth, +at the bidding of its changing whims. It seems to taste and select, by +repeated trials, the mouthfuls most to its liking. Thus bitton at several +points, covered with wounds, the Fly is soon a shapeless mass which would +putrefy very quickly if the meagre dish were not devoured at a single meal. +Allow the Scolia-grub the same unlicensed gluttony: it would perish beside +its corpulent victim, which should have kept fresh for a fortnight, but +which almost from the beginning would be no more than a filthy putrescence. + +This art of careful eating does not seem easy to practise: at least, the +larva, if ever so little diverted from its usual courses, is no longer able +to apply its talent as a capable trencherman. This will be proved by +experiment. I must begin by observing that, when I spoke of my larva which +turned putrid within twenty-four hours, I adopted an extreme case for the +sake of greater clearness. The Scolia, taking its first bite, does not and +cannot go to such lengths. Nevertheless it behooves us to enquire whether, +in the consumption of the victuals, the initial point of attack is a matter +of indifference and whether the rummaging through the entrails of the +victim entails a determined order, without which success is uncertain or +even impossible. To these delicate questions no one, I think, can reply. +Where science is silent, perhaps the grub will speak. We will try. + +I move from its position a Scolia-grub which has attained a quarter or a +third of its full growth. The long neck plunged into the victim's belly is +rather difficult to extract, because of the need of molesting the creature +as little as possible. I succeed, by means of a little patience and +repeated strokes with the tip of a paint-brush. I now turn the Cetonia- +larva over, back uppermost, at the bottom of the little hollow made by +pressing my finger in the layer of mould. Lastly, I place the Scolia on its +victim's back. Here is my grub under the same conditions as just now, with +this difference, that the back and not the belly of its victim is presented +to its mandibles. + +I watch it for a whole afternoon. It writhes about; it moves its little +head now in this direction, now in that, frequently laying it on the +Cetonia, but without fixing it anywhere. The day draws to a close; and +still it has accomplished nothing. There are restless movements, nothing +more. Hunger, I tell myself, will eventually induce it to bite. I am wrong. +Next morning I find it more anxious than the day before and still groping +about, without resolving to fix its mandibles anywhere. I leave it alone +for half a day longer without obtaining any result. Yet twenty-four hours +of abstinence must have awakened a good appetite, above all in a creature +which, if left undisturbed, would not have ceased eating. + +Excessive hunger cannot induce it to nibble at an unlawful spot. Is this +due to feebleness of the teeth? By no means: the Cetonia's skin is no +tougher on the back than on the belly; moreover, the grub is capable of +perforating the skin when it leaves the egg; a fortiori, it must be more +capable of doing so now that it has attained a sturdy growth. Thus we see +no lack of ability, but an obstinate refusal to nibble at a point which +ought to be respected. Who knows? On this side perhaps the grub's dorsal +vessel would be wounded, its heart, an organ indispensable to life. The +fact remains that my attempts to make the grub tackle its victim from the +back have failed. Does this mean that it entertains the least suspicion of +the danger which it might incur were it to produce putrefaction by +awkwardly carving its victuals from the back? It would be absurd to give +such an idea a moment's consideration. Its refusal is dictated by a +preordained decree which it is bound to obey. + +My Scolia-grubs would die of starvation if I left them on their victim's +back. I therefore restore matters as they were, with the Cetonia-larva +belly uppermost and the young Scolia on top. I might utilise the subjects +of my previous experiments; but, as I have to take precautions against the +disturbance which may have been caused by the test already undergone, I +prefer to operate on new patients, a luxury in which the richness of my +menagerie allows me to indulge. I move the Scolia from its position, +extract its head from the entrails of the Cetonia-larva and leave it to its +own resources on its victim's belly. Betraying every symptom of uneasiness, +the grub gropes, hesitates, casts about and does not insert its mandibles +anywhere, though it is now the ventral surface which it is exploring. It +would not display greater hesitation if placed on the back of the larva. I +repeat, who knows? On this side it might perhaps injure the nervous plexus, +which is even more essential than the dorsal vessel. The inexperienced grub +must not drive in its mandibles at random; its future is jeopardized if it +gives a single ill-judged bite. If it gnaws at the spot where I myself +operated with my needle wrought into a scalpel, its victuals will very soon +turn putrid. Once more, then, we witness an absolute refusal to perforate +the skin of the victim elsewhere than at the very point where the egg was +fixed. + +The mother selects this point, which is undoubtedly that most favourable to +the future prosperity of the larva, though I am not able clearly to discern +the reasons for her choice; she fixes the egg to it; and the place where +the opening is to be made is henceforth determined. It is here that the +grub must bite: only here, never elsewhere. Its invincible refusal to +tackle the Cetonia in any other part, even though it should die of +starvation, shews us how rigorous is the rule of conduct with which its +instinct is inspired. + +As it gropes about, the grub laid on the victim's ventral surface sooner or +later rediscovers the gaping wound from which I have removed it. If this +takes too long for my patience, I can myself guide its head to the place +with the point of a paint-brush. The grub then recognizes the hole of its +own making, slips its neck into it and little by little dives into the +Cetonia's belly, so that the original state of affairs appears to be +exactly restored. And yet its successful rearing is henceforth highly +problematical. It is possible that the larva will prosper, complete its +development and spin its cocoon; it is also possible--and the case is not +unusual--that the Cetonia-larva will soon turn brown and putrid. We then +see the Scolia itself turn brown, distended as it is with putrescent +foodstuffs, and then cease all movement, without attempting to withdraw +from the sanies. It dies on the spot, poisoned by its excessively high +game. + +What can be the meaning of this sudden corruption of the victuals, followed +by the death of the Scolia, when everything appeared to have returned to +its normal condition? I see only one explanation. Disturbed in its +activities and diverted from its usual courses by my interference, the +grub, when replaced on the wound from which I extracted it, was unable to +rediscover the lode at which it was working a few minutes earlier; it +thrust its way at random into the victim's entrails; and a few untimely +bites extinguished the last sparks of vitality. Its confusion rendered it +clumsy; and the mistake cost it its life. It dies poisoned by the rich food +which, if consumed according to the rules, should have made it grow plump +and lusty. + +I was anxious to observe the deadly effects of a disturbed meal in another +fashion. This time the victim itself shall disorder the grub's activities. +The Cetonia-larva, as served up to the young Scolia by its mother, is +profoundly paralysed. Its inertia is complete and so striking that it +constitutes one of the leading features of this narrative. But we will not +anticipate. For the moment, the thing is to substitute for this inert larva +a similar larva, but one not paralysed, one very much alive. To ensure that +it shall not double up and crush the grub, I confine myself to reducing it +to helplessness, leaving it otherwise just as I extracted it from its +burrow. I must also be careful of its legs and mandibles, the least touch +of which would rip open the nurseling. With a few turns of the finest wire +I fix it to a little slab of cork, with its belly in the air. Next, to +provide the grub with a ready-made hole, knowing that it will refuse to +make one for itself, I contrive a slight incision in the skin, at the point +where the Scolia lays her egg. I now place the grub upon the larva, with +its head touching the bleeding wound, and lay the whole on a bed of mould +in a transparent beaker protected by a pane of glass. + +Unable to move, to wriggle, to scratch with its legs or snap with its +mandibles, the Cetonia-larva, a new Prometheus bound, offers its +defenceless flanks to the little Vulture destined to devour its entrails. +Without too much hesitation, the young Scolia settles down to the wound +made by my scalpel, which to the grub represents the wound whence I have +just removed it. It thrusts its neck into the belly of its prey; and for a +couple of days all seems to go well. Then, lo and behold, the Cetonia turns +putrid and the Scolia dies, poisoned by the ptomaines of the decomposing +game! As before, I see it turn brown and die on the spot, still half inside +the toxic corpse. + +The fatal issue of my experiment is easily explained. The Cetonia-larva is +alive in every sense. True, I have, by means of bonds, suppressed its +outward movements, in order to provide the nurseling with a quiet meal, +devoid of danger; but it was not in my power to subdue its internal +movements, the quivering of the viscera and muscles irritated by its forced +immobility and by the Scolia's bites. The victim is in possession of its +full power of sensation; and it expresses the pain experienced as best it +may, by contractions. Embarrassed by these tremors, these twitches of +suffering flesh, incommoded at every mouthful, the grub chews away at +random and kills the larva almost as soon as it has started on it. In a +victim paralysed by the regulation sting, the conditions would be very +different. There are no external movements, nor any internal movements +either, when the mandibles bite, because the victim is insensible. The +grub, undisturbed in any way, is then able, with an unfaltering tooth, to +pursue its scientific method of eating. + +These marvellous results interested me too much not to inspire me with +fresh devices when I pursued my investigations. Earlier enquiries had +taught me that the larvae of the Digger-wasps are fairly indifferent to the +nature of the game, though the mother always supplies them with the same +diet. I had succeeded in rearing them on a great variety of prey, without +paying regard to their normal fare. I shall return to this subject later, +when I hope to demonstrate its great philosophical significance. Let us +profit by these data and try to discover what happens when we give the +Scolia food which is not properly its own. + +I select from my heap of garden-mould, that inexhaustible mine, two larvae +of the Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes nasicornis, about one-third full-grown, +so that their size may not be out of proportion to the Scolia's. It is in +fact almost identical with the size of the Cetonia. I paralyse one of them +by giving an injection of ammonia in the nerve-centres. I make a fine +incision in its belly and I place the Scolia on the opening. The dish +pleases my charge; and it would be strange indeed if this were not so, +considering that another Scolia-grub, the larva of the Garden Scolia, feeds +on the Oryctes. The dish suits it, for before long it has burrowed half-way +into the succulent paunch. This time all goes well. Will the rearing be +successful? Not a bit of it! On the third day, the Oryctes decomposes and +the Scolia dies. Which shall we hold responsible for the failure, myself or +the grub? Myself who, perhaps too unskilfully, administered the injection +of ammonia, or the grub which, a novice at dissecting a prey differing from +its own, did not know how to practise its craft upon a changed victim and +began to bite before the proper time? + +In my uncertainty, I try again. This time I shall not interfere, so that my +clumsiness cannot be to blame. As I described when speaking of the Cetonia- +larva, the Oryctes-larva now lies bound, quite alive, on a strip of cork. +As usual, I make a small opening in the belly, to entice the grub by means +of a bleeding wound and facilitate its access. I obtain the same negative +result. In a little while, the Oryctes is a noisome mass on which the +nurseling lies poisoned. The failure was foreseen: to the difficulties +presented by a prey unknown to my charge was added the commotion caused by +the wriggling of an unparalysed animal. + +We will try once more, this time with a victim paralysed not by me, an +unskilled operator, but by an adept whose ability ranks so high that it is +beyond discussion. Chance favours me to perfection: yesterday, in a warm +sheltered corner, at the foot of a sandy bank, I discovered three cells of +the Languedocian Sphex, each with its Ephippiger and the recently laid egg. +This is the game I want, a corpulent prey, of a size suited to the Scolia +and, what is more, in splendid condition, artistically paralysed according +to rule by a master among masters. + +As usual, I install my three Ephippigers in a glass jar, on a bed of mould; +I remove the egg of the Sphex and on each victim, after slightly incising +the skin of the belly, I place a young Scolia-grub. For three or four days +my charges feed upon this game, so novel to them, without any sign of +repugnance or hesitation. By the fluctuations of the digestive canal I +perceive that the work of nutrition is proceeding as it should; things are +happening just as if the dish were a Cetonia-larva. The change of diet, +complete though it is, has in no way affected the appetite of the Scolia- +grubs. But this prosperous condition does not last long. About the fourth +day, a little sooner in one case, a little later in another, the three +Ephippigers become putrid and the Scoliae die at the same time. + +This result is eloquent. Had I left the egg of the Sphex to hatch, the +larva coming out of it would have fed upon the Ephippiger; and for the +hundredth time I should have witnessed an incomprehensible spectacle, that +of an animal which, devoured piecemeal for nearly a fortnight, grows thin +and empty, shrivels up and yet retains to the very end the freshness +peculiar to living flesh. Substitute for this Sphex-larva a Scolia-larva of +almost the same size; let the dish be the same though the guest is +different; and healthy live flesh is promptly replaced by pestilent rotten +flesh. That which under the mandibles of the Sphex would for a long while +have remained wholesome food promptly becomes a poisonous liquescence under +the mandibles of the Scolia. + +It is impossible to explain the preservation of the victuals until finally +consumed by supposing that the venom injected by the Wasp when she delivers +her paralysing stings possesses antiseptic properties. The three +Ephippigers were operated on by the Sphex. Able to keep fresh under the +mandibles of the Sphex-larvae, why did they promptly go bad under the +mandibles of the Scolia-larvae? Any idea of an antiseptic must needs be +rejected: a liquid preservative which would act in the first case could not +fail to act in the second, as its virtues would not depend on the teeth of +the consumer. + +Those of you who are versed in the knowledge attaching to this problem, +investigate, I beg you, search, sift, see if you can discover the reason +why the victuals keep fresh when consumed by a Sphex, whereas they promptly +become putrid when consumed by a Scolia. For me, I see only one reason; and +I very much doubt whether any one can suggest another. + +Both larvae practise a special art of eating, which is determined by the +nature of the game. The Sphex, when sitting down to an Ephippiger, the food +that has fallen to its lot, knows thoroughly how to consume it and how to +preserve, to the very end, the glimmer of life which keeps it fresh; but, +if it has to browse upon a Cetonia-grub, whose different structure would +confuse its talents as a dissector, it would soon have nothing before it +but a heap of putrescence. The Scolia, in its turn, is familiar with the +method of eating the Cetonia-grub, its invariable portion; but it does not +understand the art of eating the Ephippiger, though the dish is to its +taste. Unable to dissect this unknown species of game, its mandibles slash +away at random, killing the creature outright as soon as they take their +first bites of the deeper tissues of the victim. That is the whole secret. + +One more word, on which I shall enlarge in another chapter. I observe that +the Scoliae to which I give Ephippigers paralysed by the Sphex keep in +excellent condition, despite the change of diet, so long as the provisions +retain their freshness. They languish when the game goes high; and they die +when putridity supervenes. Their death, therefore, is due not to an +unaccustomed diet, but to poisoning by one or other of those terrible +toxins which are engendered by animal corruption and which chemistry calls +by the name of ptomaines. Therefore, notwithstanding the fatal outcome of +my three attempts, I remain persuaded that the unfamiliar method of rearing +would have been perfectly successful had the Ephippigers not gone bad, that +is, if the Scoliae had known how to eat them according to the rules. + +What a delicate and dangerous thing is the art of eating in these +carnivorous larvae supplied with a single victim, which they have to spend +a fortnight in consuming, on the express condition of not killing it until +the very end! Could our physiological science, of which, with good reason, +we are so proud, describe, without blundering, the method to be followed in +the successive mouthfuls? How has a miserable grub learnt what our +knowledge cannot tell us? By habit, the Darwinians will reply, who see in +instinct an acquired habit. + +Before deciding this serious matter, I will ask you to reflect that the +first Wasp, of whatever kind, that thought of feeding her progeny on a +Cetonia-grub or on any other large piece of game demanding long +preservation could necessarily have left no descendants unless the art of +consuming food without causing putrescence had been practised, with all its +scrupulous caution, from the first generation onwards. Having as yet learnt +nothing by habit or by atavistic transmission, since it was making a first +beginning, the nurseling would bite into its provender at random. It would +be starving, it would have no respect for its prey. It would carve its +joint at random; and we have just seen the fatal consequence of an ill- +directed bite. It would perish--I have just proved this in the most +positive manner--it would perish, poisoned by its victim, already dead and +putrid. + +To prosper, it would have, although a novice, to know what was permitted +and what forbidden in ransacking the creature's entrails; nor would it be +enough for the larva to be approximately in possession of this difficult +secret: it would be indispensable that it should possess the secret +completely, for a single bite, if delivered before the right moment, would +inevitably involve its own demise. The Scoliae of my experiments are not +novices, far from it: they are the descendants of carvers that have +practised their art since Scoliae first came into the world; nevertheless +they all perish from the decomposition of the rations supplied, when I try +to feed them on Ephippigers paralysed by the Sphex. Very expert in the +method of attacking the Cetonia, they do not know how to set about the +business of discreetly consuming a species of game new to them. All that +escapes them is a few details, for the trade of an ogre fed on live flesh +is familiar to them in its general features; and these unheeded details are +enough to turn their food into poison. What, then, happened in the +beginning, when the larva bit for the first time into a luscious victim? +The inexperienced creature perished; of that there is not a shadow of +doubt, unless we admit an absurdity and imagine the larva of antiquity +feeding upon those terrible ptomaines which so swiftly kill its descendants +to-day. + +Nothing will ever make me admit and no unprejudiced mind can admit that +what was once food has become a horrible poison. What the larva of +antiquity ate was live flesh and not putrescence. Nor can it be admitted +that the chances of fortune can have led at the first trial to success in a +system of nourishment so full of pit-falls: fortuitous results are +preposterous amid so many complications. Either the feeding is strictly +methodical at the beginning, in conformity with the organic exigencies of +the prey devoured, and the Wasp established her race; or else it was +hesitating, without determined rules, and the Wasp left no successor. In +the first case we behold innate instinct; in the second acquired habit. + +A strange acquisition, truly! An acquisition presumed to be made by an +impossible creature; an acquisition supposed to develop in no less +impossible successors! Though the snow-ball, slowly rolling, at last +becomes an enormous sphere, it is still necessary that the starting-point +shall not have been NIL. The big ball implies the little ball, as small as +you please. Now, in harking back to the origin of these acquired habits, if +I interrogate the possibilities I obtain zero as the only answer. If the +animal does not know its trade thoroughly, if it has to acquire something, +all the more if it has to acquire everything, it perishes: that is +inevitable; without the little snow-ball the big snow-ball cannot be +rolled. If it has nothing to acquire, if it knows all that it needs to +know, it flourishes and leaves descendants behind it. But then it possesses +innate instinct, the instinct which learns nothing and forgets nothing, the +instinct which is steadfast throughout time. + +The building up of theories has never appealed to me: I suspect them one +and all. To argue nebulously upon dubious premises likes me no better. I +observe, I experiment and I let the facts speak for themselves. We have +just heard these facts. Let each now decide for himself whether instinct is +an innate faculty or an acquired habit. + + +CHAPTER 4. THE CETONIA-LARVA. + +The Scolia's feeding-period lasts, on the average, for a dozen days or so. +By then the victuals are no more than a crumpled bag, a skin emptied of the +last scrap of nutriment. A little earlier, the russet-yellow tint announces +the extinction of the last spark of life in the creature that is being +devoured. The empty skin is pushed back to make space; the dining-room, a +shapeless cavity with crumbling walls, is tidied up a little; and the +Scolia-grub sets to work on its cocoon without further delay. + +The first courses form a general scaffolding, which finds a support here +and there on the earthen walls, and consist of a rough, blood-red fabric. +When the larva is merely laid, as required by my investigations, in a +hollow made with the finger-tip in the bed of mould, it is not able to spin +its cocoon, for want of a ceiling to which to fasten the upper threads of +its network. To weave its cocoon, every spinning larva is compelled to +isolate itself in a hammock slung in an open-work enclosure, which enables +it to distribute its thread uniformly in all directions. If there be no +ceiling, the upper part of the cocoon cannot be fashioned, because the +worker lacks the necessary points of support. Under these conditions my +Scolia-grubs contrive at most to upholster their little pit with a thick +down of reddish silk. Discouraged by futile endeavours, some of them die. +It is as if they had been killed by the silk which they omit to disgorge +because they are unable to make the right use of it. This, if we were not +watchful, would be a very frequent cause of failure in our attempts at +artificial rearing. But, once the danger has been perceived, the remedy is +simple. I make a ceiling over the cavity by laying a short strip of paper +above it. If I want to see how matters are progressing, I bend the strip +into a semicircle, into a half-cylinder with open ends. Those who wish to +play the breeder for themselves will be able to profit by these little +practical details. + +In twenty-four hours the cocoon is finished; at least, it no longer allows +us to see the grub, which is doubtless making the walls of its dwelling +still thicker. At first the cocoon is a vivid red; later it changes to a +light chestnut-brown. Its form is that of an ellipsoid, with a major axis +26 millimetres in length, while the minor axis measures 11 millimetres. +(1.014 x .429 inch.--Translator's Note.) These dimensions, which +incidentally are inclined to vary slightly, are those of the female +cocoons. In the other sex they are smaller and may measure as little as 17 +millimetres in length by 7 millimetres in width. (.663 x .273 inch.-- +Translator's Note.) + +The two ends of the ellipsoid have the same form, so much so that it is +only thanks to an individual peculiarity, independent of the shape, that we +can tell the cephalic from the anal extremity. The cephalic pole is +flexible and yields to the pressure of my tweezers; the anal pole is hard +and unyielding. The wrapper is double, as in the cocoons of the Sphex. (Cf. +"The Hunting Wasps": chapters 4 to 10 et passim.--Translator's Note.) The +outer envelope, consisting of pure silk, is thin, flexible and offers +little resistance. It is closely superimposed upon the inner envelope and +is easily separated from it everywhere, except at the anal end, where it +adheres to the second envelope. The adhesion of the two wrappers at one end +and the non-adhesion at the other are the cause of the differences which +the tweezers reveal when pinching the two ends of the cocoon. + +The inner envelope is firm, elastic, rigid and, to a certain point, +brittle. I do not hesitate to look upon it as consisting of a silken tissue +which the larva, towards the end of its task, has steeped thoroughly in a +sort of varnish prepared not by the silk-glands but by the stomach. The +cocoons of the Sphex have already shown us a similar varnish. This product +of the chylific ventricle is chestnut-brown. It is this which, saturating +the thickness of the tissue, effaces the bright red of the beginning and +replaces it by a brown tint. It is this again which, disgorged more +profusely at the lower end of the cocoon, glues the two wrappers together +at that point. + +The perfect insect is hatched at the beginning of July. The emergence takes +place without any violent effraction, without any ragged rents. A clean, +circular fissure appears at some distance from the top; and the cephalic +end is detached all of a piece, as a loose lid might be. It is as though +the recluse had only to raise a cover by butting it with her head, so exact +is the line of division, at least as regards the inner envelope, the +stronger and more important of the two. As for the outer wrapper, its lack +of resistance enables it to yield without difficulty when the other gives +way. + +I cannot quite make out by what knack the Wasp contrives to detach the cap +of the inner shell with such accuracy. Is it the art practised by the +tailor when cutting his stuff, with mandibles taking the place of scissors? +I hardly venture to admit as much: the tissue is so tough and the circle of +division so precise. The mandibles are not sharp enough to cut without +leaving a ragged edge; and then what geometrical certainty they would need +for an operation so perfect that it might well have been performed with the +compasses! + +I suspect therefore that the Scolia first fashions the outer sac in +accordance with the usual method, that is, by distributing the silk +uniformly, without any special preparation of one part of the wall more +than of another, and that it afterwards changes its method of weaving in +order to attend to the main work, the inner shell. In this it apparently +imitates the Bembex (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 14 to 16.-- +Translator's Note.), which weaves a sort of eel-trap, whose ample mesh +allows it to gather grains of sand outside and encrust them one by one in +the silky network, and completes the performance with a cap fitting the +entrance to the trap. This provides a circular line of least resistance, +along which the casket breaks open afterwards. If the Scolia really works +in the same manner, everything is explained: the eel-trap, while still +open, enables it to soak with varnish both the inside and the outside of +the inner shell, which has to acquire the consistency of parchment; lastly, +the cap which completes and closes the structure leaves for the future a +circular line capable of splitting easily and neatly. + +This is enough on the subject of the Scolia-grub. Let us go back to its +provender, of whose remarkable structure we as yet know nothing. In order +that it may be consumed with the delicate anatomical discretion imposed by +the necessity of having fresh food to the last, the Cetonia-grub must be +plunged into a state of absolute immobility: any twitchings on its part--as +the experiments which I have undertaken go to prove--would discourage our +nibbling larva and impede the work of carving, which has to be effected +with so much circumspection. It is not enough for the victim to be unable +to move from place to place beneath the soil: in addition to this, the +contractible power in its sturdy muscular organism must be suppressed. + +In its normal state, this larva, at the very least disturbance, curls +itself up, almost as the Hedgehog does; and the two halves of the ventral +surface are laid one against the other. You are quite surprised at the +strength which the creature displays in keeping itself thus contracted. If +you try to unroll it, your fingers encounter a resistance far greater than +the size of the animal would have caused you to suspect. To overcome the +resistance of this sort of spring coiled upon itself, you have to force it, +so much so that you are afraid, if you persist, of seeing the indomitable +spiral suddenly burst and shoot forth its entrails. + +A similar muscular energy is found in the larvae of the Oryctes (Also known +as the Rhinoceros Beetle.--Translator's Note.), the Anoxia (A Beetle akin +to the Cockchafer.--Translator's Note.), the Cockchafer. Weighed down by a +heavy belly and living underground, where they feed either on leaf-mould or +on roots, these larvae all possess the vigorous constitution needed to drag +their corpulence through a resisting medium. All of them also roll +themselves into a hook which is not straightened without an effort. + +Now what would become of the egg and the new-born grub of the Scoliae, +fixed under the belly, at the centre of the Cetonia's spiral, or inside the +hook of the Oryctes or the Anoxia? They would be crushed between the jaws +of the living vice. It is essential that the arc should slacken and the +hook unbend, without the least possibility of their returning to a state of +tension. Indeed, the well-being of the Scoliae demands something more: +those powerful bodies must not retain even the power to quiver, lest they +derange a method of feeding which has to be conducted with the greatest +caution. + +The Cetonia-grub to which the Two-banded Scolia's egg is fastened fulfils +the required conditions admirably. It is lying on its back, in the midst of +the mould, with its belly fully extended. Long accustomed though I be to +this spectacle of victims paralysed by the sting of the Hunting Wasp, I +cannot suppress my astonishment at the profound immobility of the prey +before my eyes. In the other victims with flexible skins, Caterpillars, +Crickets, Mantes, Ephippigers, I perceived at least some pulsations of the +abdomen, a few feeble contortions under the stimulus of a needle. There is +nothing of the sort here, nothing but absolute inertia, except in the head, +where I see, from time to time, the mouth-parts open and close, the palpi +give a tremor, the short antennae sway to and fro. A prick with the point +of a needle causes no contraction, no matter what the spot pricked. Though +I stab it through and through, the creature does not stir, be it ever so +little. A corpse is not more inert. Never, since my remotest +investigations, have I witnessed so profound a paralysis. I have seen many +wonders due to the surgical talent of the Wasp; but to-day's marvel +surpasses them all. + +I am doubly surprised when I consider the unfavourable conditions under +which the Scolia operates. The other paralysers work in the open air, in +the full light of day. There is nothing to hinder them. They enjoy full +liberty of action in seizing the prey, holding it in position and +sacrificing it; they are able to see the victim and to parry its means of +defence, to avoid its spears, its pincers. The spot or spots to be attained +are within their reach; they drive the dagger in without let or hindrance. + +What difficulties, on the other hand, await the Scolia! She hunts +underground, in the blackest darkness. Her movements are laboured and +uncertain, owing to the mould, which is continually giving way all round +her; she cannot keep her eyes on the terrible mandibles, which are capable +of cutting her body in two with a single bite. Moreover, the Cetonia-grub, +perceiving that the enemy is approaching, assumes its defensive posture, +rolls itself up and makes a shield for its only vulnerable part, the +ventral surface, with its convex back. No, it cannot be an easy operation +to subdue the powerful larva in its underground retreat and to stab with +the precision which immediate paralysis requires. + +We wish that we might witness the struggle between the two adversaries and +see at first hand what happens, but we cannot hope to succeed. It all takes +place in the mysterious darkness of the soil; in broad daylight, the attack +would not be delivered, for the victim must remain where it is and then and +there receive the egg, which is unable to thrive and develop except under +the warm cover of vegetable mould. If direct observation is impracticable, +we can at least foresee the main outlines of the drama by allowing +ourselves to be guided by the warlike manoeuvres of other burrowers. + +I picture things thus: digging and rummaging through the heap of mould, +guided perhaps by that singular sensibility of the antennae which enables +the Hairy Ammophila to discover the Grey Worm (The caterpillar of the +Turnip Moth. Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 18 to 20.--Translator's +Note.) underground, the Scolia ends by finding a Cetonia-larva, a good +plump one, in the pink of condition, having reached its full growth, just +what the grub which is to feed on it requires. Forthwith, the assaulted +victim, contracting desperately, rolls itself into a ball. The other seizes +it by the skin of the neck. To unroll it is impossible to the insect, for I +myself have some trouble in doing so. One single point is accessible to the +sting: the under part of the head, or rather of the first segments, which +are placed outside the coil, so that the grub's hard cranium makes a +rampart for the hinder extremity, which is less well defended. Here the +Wasp's sting enters and here only can it enter, within a narrowly +circumscribed area. One stab only of the lancet is given at this point, one +only because there is no room for more; and this is enough: the larva is +absolutely paralysed. + +The nervous functions are abolished instantly; the muscular contractions +cease; and the animal uncoils like a broken spring. Henceforth motionless, +it lies on its back, its ventral surface fully exposed from end to end. On +the median line of this surface, towards the rear, near the brown patch due +to the alimentary broth contained in the intestine, the Scolia lays her egg +and without more ado, leaves everything lying on the actual spot where the +murder was committed, in order to go in search of another victim. + +This is how the deed must be done: the results prove it emphatically. But +then the Cetonia-grub must possess a very exceptional structure in its +nervous organization. The larva's violent contraction leaves but a single +point of attack open to the sting, the under part of the neck, which is +doubtless uncovered when the victim tries to defend itself with its +mandibles; and yet a stab in this one point produces the most thorough +paralysis that I have ever seen. It is the general rule that larvae possess +a centre of innervation for each segment. This is so in particular with the +Grey Worm, the sacrificial victim of the Hairy Ammophila. The Wasp is +acquainted with this anatomical secret: she stabs the caterpillar again and +again, from end to end, segment by segment, ganglion by ganglion. With such +an organization the Cetonia-grub, unconquerably coiled upon itself would +defy the paralyser's surgical skill. + +If the first ganglion were wounded, the others would remain uninjured; and +the powerful body, actuated by these last, would lose none of its powers of +contraction. Woe then to the egg, to the young grub held fast in its +embrace! And how insurmountable would be the difficulties if the Scolia, +working in the profound darkness amid the crumbling soil and confronted by +a terrible pair of mandibles, had to stab each segment in turn with her +sting, with the certainty of method displayed by the Ammophila! The +delicate operation is possible in the open air, where nothing stands in the +way, in broad daylight, where the sight guides the scalpel, and with a +patient which can always be released if it becomes dangerous. But in the +dark, underground, amidst the ruins of a ceiling which crumbles in +consequence of the conflict and at close quarters with an opponent greatly +her superior in strength, how is the Scolia to guide her sting with the +accuracy that is essential if the stabs are to be repeated? + +So profound a paralysis; the difficulty of vivisection underground; the +desperate coiling of the victim: all these things tell me that the Cetonia- +grub, as regards its nervous system, must possess a structure peculiar to +itself. The whole of the ganglia must be concentrated in a limited area in +the first segments, almost under the neck. I see this as clearly as though +it had been revealed to me by a post-mortem dissection. + +Never was anatomical forecast more fully confirmed by direct examination. +After forty-eight hours in benzine, which dissolves the fat and renders the +nervous system more plainly visible, the Cetonia-grub is subjected to +dissection. Those of my readers who are familiar with these investigations +will understand my delight. What a clever school is the Scolia's! It is +just as I thought! Admirable! The thoracic and abdominal ganglia are +gathered into a single nervous mass, situated within the quadrilateral +bounded by the four hinder legs, which legs are very near the head. It is a +tiny, dull-white cylinder, about three millimetres long by half a +millimetre wide. (.117 x .019 inch.--Translator's Note.) This is the organ +which the Scolia's sting must attack in order to secure the paralysis of +the whole body, excepting the head, which is provided with special ganglia. +>From it run numbers of filaments which actuate the feet and the powerful +muscular layer which is the creature's essential motor organ. When examined +merely through the pocket-lens, this cylinder appears to be slightly +furrowed transversely, a proof of its complex structure. Under the +microscope, it is seen to be formed by the close juxtaposition, the +welding, end to end, of the ganglia, which can be distinguished one from +the other by a slight intermediate groove. The bulkiest are the first, the +fourth and the tenth, or last; these are all very nearly of equal size. The +rest are barely half or even a third as large as those mentioned. + +The Interrupted Scolia experiences the same hunting and surgical +difficulties when she attacks, in the crumbling, sandy soil, the larvae of +the Shaggy Anoxia or of the Morning Anoxia, according to the district; and +these difficulties, if they are to be overcome, demand in the victim a +concentrated nervous system, like the Cetonia's. Such is my logical +conviction before making my examination; such also is the result of direct +observation. When subjected to the scalpel, the larva of the Morning Anoxia +shows me its centres of innervation for the thorax and the abdomen, +gathered into a short cylinder, which, placed very far forward, almost +immediately after the head, does not run back beyond the level of the +second pair of legs. The vulnerable point is thus easily accessible to the +sting, despite the creature's posture of defence, in which it contracts and +coils up. In this cylinder I recognize eleven ganglia, one more than in the +Cetonia. The first three, or thoracic, ganglia are plainly distinguishable +from one another, although they are set very close together; the rest are +all in contact. The largest are the three thoracic ganglia and the +eleventh. + +After ascertaining these facts, I remembered Swammerdam's investigations +into the grub of the Monoceros, our Oryctes nasicornis. (Jan Swammerdam +(1637-1680), the Dutch naturalist and anatomist.--Translator's Note.) I +chanced to possess an abridgement of the "Biblia naturae," the masterly +work of the father of insect anatomy. I consulted the venerable volume. It +informed me that the learned Dutchman had been struck, long before I was, +by an anatomical peculiarity similar to that which the larvae of the +Cetoniae and Anoxiae had shown me in their nerve-centres. Having observed +in the Silk-worm a nervous system formed of ganglia distinct one from the +other, he was quite surprised to find that, in the grub of the Oryctes, the +same system was concentrated into a short chain of ganglia in +juxtaposition. His was the surprise of the anatomist who, studying the +organ qua organ, sees for the first time an unusual conformation. Mine was +of a different nature: I was amazed to see the precision with which the +paralysis of the victim sacrificed by the Scolia, a paralysis so profound +in spite of the difficulties of an underground operation, had guided my +forecast as to structure when, anticipating the dissection, I declared in +favour of an exceptional concentration of the nervous system. Physiology +perceived what anatomy had not yet revealed, at all events to my eyes, for +since then, on dipping into my books, I have learnt that these anatomical +peculiarities, which were then so new to me, are now within the domain of +current science. We know that, in the Scarabaeidae, both the larva and the +perfect insect are endowed with a concentrated nervous system. + +The Garden Scolia attacks Oryctes nasicornis; the Two-banded Scolia the +Cetonia; the Interrupted Scolia the Anoxia. All three operate below ground, +under the most unfavourable conditions; and all three have for their victim +a larva of one of the Scarabaeidae, which, thanks to the exceptional +arrangement of its nerve-centres, lends itself, alone of all larvae, to the +Wasp's successful enterprises. In the presence of this underground game, so +greatly varied in size and shape and yet so judiciously selected to +facilitate paralysis, I do not hesitate to generalize and I accept, as the +ration of the other Scoliae, larvae of Lamellicorns whose species will be +determined by future observation. Perhaps one of them will be found to give +chase to the terrible enemy of my crops, the voracious White Worm, the grub +of the Cockchafer; perhaps the Hemorrhoidal Scolia, rivalling in size the +Garden Scolia and like her, no doubt, requiring a copious diet, will be +entered in the insects' "Who's Who" as the destroyer of the Pine-chafer, +that magnificent Beetle, flecked with white upon a black or brown ground, +who of an evening, during the summer solstice, browses on the foliage of +the fir-trees. Though unable to speak with certainty or precision, I am +inclined to look upon these devourers of Scarabaeus-grubs as valiant +agricultural auxiliaries. + +The Cetonia-larva has figured hitherto only in its quality of a paralysed +victim. We will now consider it in its normal state. With its convex back +and its almost flat ventral surface, the creature is like a semi-cylinder +in shape, fuller in the hinder portion. On the back, each of the segments, +except the last, or anal, segment, puckers into three thick pads, bristling +with stiff, tawny hairs. The anal segment, much wider than the rest, is +rounded at the end and coloured a deep brown by the contents of the +intestine, which show through the translucent skin; it bristles with hairs +like the other segments, but is level, without pads. On the ventral +surface, the segments have no creases; and the hairs, though abundant, are +rather less so than on the back. The legs, which are quite well-formed, are +short and feeble in comparison with the animal's size. The head has a +strong, horny cap for a cranium. The mandibles are powerful, with bevelled +tips and three or four teeth on the edge of the bevel. + +Its mode of locomotion marks it as an idiosyncratic, exceptional, fantastic +creature, having no fellow, that I know of, in the insect world. Though +endowed with legs--a trifle short, it is true, but after all as good as +those of a host of other larvae--it never uses them for walking. It +progresses on its back, always on its back, never otherwise. By means of +wriggling movements and the purchase afforded by the dorsal bristles, it +makes its way belly upwards, with its legs kicking the empty air. The +spectator to whom these topsy-turvy gymnastics are a novelty thinks at +first that the creature must have had a fright of some sort and that it is +struggling as best it can in the face of danger. He puts it back on its +belly; he lays it on its side. Nothing is of any use; it obstinately turns +over and resumes its dorsal progress. That is its manner of travelling over +a flat surface; it has no other. + +This reversal of the usual mode of walking is so peculiar to the Cetonia- +larva that it is enough in itself to reveal the grub's identity to the +least expert eyes. Dig into the vegetable mould formed by the decayed wood +in the hollow trunks of old willow-trees, search at the foot of rotten +stumps or in heaps of compost; and, if you come upon a plumpish grub moving +along on its back, there is no room for doubt: your discovery is a Cetonia- +larva. + +This topsy-turvy progress is fairly swift and is not less in speed to that +of an equally fat grub travelling on its legs. It would even be greater on +a polished surface, where walking on foot is hampered by incessant slips, +whereas the numerous hairs of the dorsal pads find the necessary support by +multiplying the points of contact. On polished wood, on a sheet of paper +and even on a strip of glass, I see my grubs moving from point to point +with the same ease as on a surface of garden mould. In the space of one +minute, on the wood of my table, they cover a distance of eight inches. The +pace is no swifter on a horizontal bed of sifted mould. A strip of glass +reduces the distance covered by one half. The slippery surface only half +paralyses this strange method of locomotion. + +We will now place side by side with the Cetonia-grub the larva of the +Morning Anoxia, the prey of the Interrupted Scolia. It is very like the +larva of the Common Cockchafer. It is a fat, pot-bellied grub, with a +thick, red cap on its head and armed with strong, black mandibles, which +are powerful implements for digging and cutting through roots. The legs are +sturdy and end in a hooked nail. The creature has a long, heavy, brown +paunch. When placed on the table, it lies on its side; it struggles without +being able to advance or even to remain on its belly or back. In its usual +posture it is curled up into a narrow hook. I have never seen it straighten +itself completely; the bulky abdomen prevents it. When placed on a surface +of moist sand, the ventripotent creature is no better able to shift its +position: curved into a fish-hook, it lies on its side. + +To dig into the earth and bury itself, it uses the fore-edge of its head, a +sort of weeding-hoe with the two mandibles for points. The legs take part +in this work, but far less effectually. In this way it contrives to dig +itself a shallow pit. Then, bracing itself against the wall of the pit, +with the aid of wriggling movements which are favoured by the short, stiff +hairs bristling all over its body, the grub changes its position and +plunges into the sand, but still with difficulty. + +Apart from a few details, which are of no importance here, we may repeat +this sketch of the Anoxia-grub and we shall have, if the size be at least +quadrupled, a picture of the larva of Oryctes nasicornis, the monstrous +prey of the Garden Scolia. Its general appearance is the same: there is the +same exaggeration of the belly; the same hook-like curve; the same +incapacity for standing on its legs. And as much may be said of the larva +of Scarabaeus pentodon, a fellow-boarder of the Oryctes and the Cetonia. + + +CHAPTER 5. THE PROBLEM OF THE SCOLIAE. + +Now that all the facts have been set forth, it is time to collate them. We +already know that the Beetle-hunters, the Cerceres (Cf. "The Hunting +Wasps": chapters 1 to 3.--Translator's Note.), prey exclusively on the +Weevils and the Buprestes, that is, on the families whose nervous system +presents a degree of concentration which may be compared with that of the +Scolia's victims. Those predatory insects, working in the open air, are +exempt from the difficulties which their emulators, working underground, +have to overcome. Their movements are free and are directed by the sense of +sight; but their surgery is confronted in another respect with a most +arduous problem. + +The victim, a Beetle, is covered at all points with a suit of armour which +the sting is unable to penetrate. The joints alone will allow the poisoned +lancet to pass. Those of the legs do not in any way comply with the +conditions imposed: the result of stinging them would be merely a partial +disorder which far from subduing the insect, would render it more dangerous +by irritating it yet further. A sting in the joint of the neck is not +admissible: it would injure the cervical ganglia and lead to death, +followed by putrefaction. There remains only the joint between the corselet +and the abdomen. + +The sting, in entering here, has to abolish all movement with a single +stab, for any movement would imperil the rearing of the larva. The success +of the paralysis, therefore, demands that the motor ganglia, at least the +three thoracic ganglia, shall be packed in close contact opposite this +point. This determines the selection of Weevils and Buprestes, both of +which are so strongly armoured. + +But where the prey has only a soft skin, incapable of stopping the sting, +the concentrated nervous system is no longer necessary, for the operator, +versed in the anatomical secrets of her victim, knows to perfection where +the centres of innervation lie; and she wounds them one after another, if +need be from the first to the last. Thus do the Ammophilae go to work when +dealing with their caterpillars and the Sphex-wasps when dealing with their +Locusts, Ephippigers and Crickets. + +With the Scoliae we come once again to a soft prey, with a skin penetrable +by the sting no matter where it be attacked. Will the tactics of the +caterpillar-hunters, who stab and stab again, be repeated here? No, for the +difficulty of movement under ground prohibits so complicated an operation. +Only the tactics of the paralysers of armour-clad insects are practicable +now, for, since there is but one thrust of the dagger, the feat of surgery +is reduced to its simplest terms, a necessary consequence of the +difficulties of an underground operation. The Scoliae, then, whose destiny +it is to hunt and paralyse under the soil the victuals for their family, +require a prey made highly vulnerable by the close assemblage of the nerve- +centres, as are the Weevils and Buprestes of the Cerceres; and this is why +it has fallen to their lot to share among them the larvae of the +Scarabaeidae. + +Before they obtained their allotted portion, so closely restricted and so +judiciously selected; before they discovered the precise and almost +mathematical point at which the sting must enter to produce a sudden and a +lasting immobility; before they learnt how to consume, without incurring +the risk of putrefaction, so corpulent a prey: in brief, before they +combined these three conditions of success, what did the Scoliae do? + +The Darwinian school will reply that they were hesitating, essaying, +experimenting. A long series of blind gropings eventually hit upon the most +favourable combination, a combination henceforth to be perpetuated by +hereditary transmission. The skilful co-ordination between the end and the +means was originally the result of an accident. + +Chance! A convenient refuge! I shrug my shoulders when I hear it invoked to +explain the genesis of an instinct so complex as that of the Scoliae. In +the beginning, you say, the creature gropes and feels its way; there is +nothing settled about its preferences. To feed its carnivorous larvae it +levies tribute on every species of game which is not too much for the +huntress' power or the nurseling's appetite; its descendants try now this, +now that, now something else, at random, until the accumulated centuries +lead to the selection which best suits the race. Then habit grows fixed and +becomes instinct. + +Very well. Let us agree that the Scolia of antiquity sought a different +prey from that adopted by the modern huntress. If the family throve upon a +diet now discontinued, we fail to see that the descendants had any reason +to change it: animals have not the gastronomic fancies of an epicure whom +satiety makes difficult to please. Because the race did well upon this +fare, it became habitual; and instinct became differently fixed from what +it is to-day. If, on the other hand, the original food was unsuitable, the +existence of the family was jeopardized; and any attempt at future +improvement became impossible, because an unhappily inspired mother would +leave no heirs. + +To escape falling into this twofold trap, the theorists will reply that the +Scoliae are descended from a precursor, an indeterminate creature, of +changeable habits and changing form, modifying itself in accordance with +its environment and with the regional and climatic conditions and branching +out into races each of which has become a species with the attributes which +distinguish it to-day. The precursor is the deus ex machina of evolution. +When the difficulty becomes altogether too importunate, quick, a precursor, +to fill up the gaps, quick, an imaginary creature, the nebulous plaything +of the mind! This is seeking to lighten the darkness with a still deeper +obscurity; to illumine the day by piling cloud upon cloud. Precursors are +easier to find than sound arguments. Nevertheless, let us put the precursor +of the Scoliae to the test. + +What did she do? Being capable of everything, she did a bit of everything. +Among its descendants were innovators who developed a taste for tunnelling +in sand and vegetable mould. There they encountered the larvae of the +Cetonia, the Oryctes, the Anoxia, succulent morsels on which to rear their +families. By degrees the indeterminate Wasp adopted the sturdy proportions +demanded by underground labour. By degrees she learnt to stab her plump +neighbours in scientific fashion; by degrees she acquired the difficult art +of consuming her prey without killing it; at length, by degrees, aided by +the richness of her diet, she became the powerful Scolia with whom we are +familiar. Having reached this point, the species assumes a permanent form, +as does its instinct. + +Here we have a multiplicity of stages, all of the slowest, all of the most +incredible nature, whereas the Wasp cannot found a race except on the +express condition of complete success from the first attempt. We will not +insist further upon the insurmountable objection; we will admit that, amid +so many unfavourable chances, a few favoured individuals survive, becoming +more and more numerous from one generation to the next, in proportion as +the dangerous art of rearing the young is perfected. Slight variations in +one and the same direction form a definite whole; and at long last the +ancient precursor has become the Scolia of our own times. + +By the aid of a vague phraseology which juggles with the secret of the +centuries and the unknown things of life, it is easy to build up a theory +in which our mental sloth delights, after being discouraged by difficult +researches whose final result is doubt rather than positive statement. But +if, so far from being satisfied with hazy generalities and adopting as +current coin the terms consecrated by fashion, we have the perseverance to +explore the truth as far as lies in our power, the aspect of things will +undergo a great change and we shall discover that they are far less simple +than our overprecipitate views declared them to be. Generalization is +certainly a most valuable instrument: science indeed exists only by virtue +of it. Let us none the less beware of generalizations which are not based +upon very firm and manifold foundations. + +When these foundations are lacking, the child is the great generalizer. For +him, the feathered world consists merely of birds; the race of reptiles +merely of snakes, the only difference being that some are big and some are +little. Knowing nothing, he generalizes in the highest degree; he +simplifies, in his inability to perceive the complex. Later he will learn +that the Sparrow is not the Bullfinch, that the Linnet is not the +Greenfinch; he will particularize and to a greater degree each day, as his +faculty of observation becomes more fully trained. In the beginning he saw +nothing but resemblances; he now sees differences, but still not plainly +enough to avoid incongruous comparisons. + +In his adult years he will almost to a certainty commit zoological blunders +similar to those which my gardener retails to me. Favier, an old soldier, +has never opened a book, for the best of reasons. He barely knows how to +cipher: arithmetic rather than reading is forced upon us by the brutalities +of life. Having followed the flag over three-quarters of the globe, he has +an open mind and a memory crammed with reminiscences, which does not +prevent him, when we chat about animals, from making the most crazy +assertions. For him the Bat is a Rat that has grown wings; the Cuckoo is a +Sparrow-hawk retired from business; the Slug is a Snail who has lost his +shell with the advance of years; the Nightjar (Known also as the +Goatsucker, because of the mistaken belief that the bird sucks the milk of +Goats, and, in America, as the Whippoorwill.--Translator's Note.), the +Chaoucho-grapaou, as he calls her, is an elderly Toad, who, becoming +enamoured of milk-food, has grown feathers, so that she may enter the byres +and milk the Goats. It is impossible to drive these fantastic ideas out of +his head. Favier himself, as will be seen, is an evolutionist after his own +fashion, an evolutionist of a very daring type. In accounting for the +origin of animals nothing gives him pause. He has a reply to everything: +"this" comes from "that." If you ask him why, he answers: + +"Look at the resemblance!" + +Shall we reproach him with these insanities, when we hear another, misled +by the Monkey's build, acclaim the Pithecanthropus as man's precursor? +Shall we reject the metamorphosis of the Chaoucho-grapaou, when people tell +us in all seriousness that, in the present stage of scientific knowledge, +it is absolutely proved that man is descended from some rough-hewn Ape? Of +the two transformations, Favier's strikes me as the more credible. A +painter of my acquaintance, a brother of the great composer Felicien David +(Felicien Cesar David (1810-1876). His chief work was the choral symphony +"Le Desert":--Translator's Note.), favoured me one day with his reflections +on the human structure: + +"Ve, moun bel ami," he said. "Ve, l'home a lou dintre d'un por et lou +defero d'uno mounino." "See, my dear friend, see: man has the inside of a +pig and the outside of a monkey." + +I recommend the painter's aphorism to those who might like to discover +man's origin in the Hog when the Ape has gone out of fashion. According to +David, descent is proved by internal resemblances: + +"L'home a lou dintre d'un por." + +The inventory of precursory types sees nothing but organic resemblances and +disdains the differences of aptitude. By consulting only the bones, the +vertebrae, the hair, the nervures of the wings, the joints of the antennae, +the imagination may build up any sort of genealogical tree that will fit +with our theories of classification, for, when all is said, the animal, in +its widest generalization, is represented by a digestive tube. With this +common factor, the way lies open to every kind of error. A machine is +judged not by this or that train of wheels, but by the nature of the work +accomplished. The monumental roasting-jack of a waggoners' inn and a +Breguet chronometer both have trains of cogwheels geared in almost a +similar fashion. (Louis Breguet (1803-1883), a famous Parisian watchmaker +and physicist.--Translator's Note.) Are we to class the two mechanisms +together? Shall we forget that the one turns a shoulder of mutton before +the hearth, while the other divides time into seconds? + +In the same way, the organic scaffolding is dominated from on high by the +aptitudes of the animal, especially that superior characteristic, the +psychical aptitudes. That the Chimpanzee and the hideous Gorilla possess +close resemblances of structure to our own is obvious. But let us for a +moment consider their aptitudes. What differences, what a dividing gulf! +Without exalting ourselves as high as the famous reed of which Pascal +speaks, that reed which, in its weakness, by the mere fact that it knows +itself to be crushed, is superior to the world that crushes it, we may at +least ask to be shown, somewhere, an animal making an implement, which will +multiply its skill and its strength, or taking possession of fire, the +primordial element of progress. (Blaise Pascal(1623-1662). The allusion is +to a passage in the philosopher's "Pensees." Pascal describes man as a +reed, the weakest thing in nature, but "a thinking reed."--Translator's +Note.) Master of implements and of fire! These two aptitudes, simple though +they be, characterize man better than the number of his vertebrae and his +molars. + +You tell us that man, at first a hairy brute, walking on all fours, has +risen on his hind-legs and shed his fur; and you complacently demonstrate +how the elimination of the hairy pelt was effected. Instead of bolstering +up a theory with a handful of fluff gained or lost, it would perhaps be +better to settle how the original brute became the possessor of implements +and fire. Aptitudes are more important than hair; and you neglect them +because it is there that the insurmountable difficulty really resides. See +how the great master of evolution hesitates and stammers when he tries, by +fair means or foul, to fit instinct into the mould of his formulae. It is +not so easy to handle as the colour of the pelt, the length of the tail, +the ear that droops or stands erect. Yes, our master well knows that this +is where the shoe pinches! Instinct escapes him and brings his theory +crumbling to the ground. + +Let us return to what the Scoliae teach us on this question, which +incidentally touches on our own origin. In conformity with the Darwinian +ideas, we have accepted an unknown precursor, who by dint of repeated +experiment, adopted as the victuals to be hoarded the larvae of the +Scarabaeidae. This precursor, modified by varying circumstances, is +supposed to have subdivided herself into ramifications, one of which, +digging into vegetable mould and preferring the Cetonia to any other game +inhabiting the same heap, became the Two-banded Scolia; another, also +addicted to exploring the soil, but selecting the Oryctes, left as its +descendant the Garden Scolia; and a third, establishing itself in sandy +ground, where it found the Anoxia, was the ancestress of the Interrupted +Scolia. To these three ramifications we must beyond a doubt add others +which complete the series of the Scolia. As their habits are known to me +only by analogy, I confine myself to mentioning them. + +The three species at least, therefore, with which I am familiar would +appear to be derived from a common precursor. To traverse the distance from +the starting-point to the goal, all three have had to contend with +difficulties, which are extremely grave if considered one by one and are +aggravated even more by this circumstance, that the overcoming of one would +lead to nothing unless the others were surmounted as successfully. Success, +then, is contingent upon a series of conditions, each one of which offers +almost no chance of victory, so that the fulfilment of them all becomes a +mathematical absurdity if we are to invoke accident alone. + +And, in the first place, how was it that the Scolia of antiquity, having to +provide rations for her carnivorous family, adopted for her prey only those +larvae which, owing to the concentration of their nervous systems, form so +remarkable and so rare an exception in the insect order? What chance would +hazard offer her of obtaining this prey, the most suitable of all because +the most vulnerable? The chance represented by unity compared with the +indefinite number of entomological species. The odds are as one to +immensity. + +Let us continue. The larva of the Scarabaeid is snapped up underground, for +the first time. The victim protests, defends itself after its fashion, +coils itself up and presents to the sting on every side a surface on which +a wound entails no serious danger. And yet the Wasp, an absolute novice, +has to select, for the thrust of its poisoned weapon, one single point, +narrowly restricted and hidden in the folds of the larva's body. If she +miscalculates, she may be killed: the larva, irritated by the smarting +puncture, is strong enough to disembowel her with the tusks of its +mandibles. If she escapes the danger, she will nevertheless perish without +leaving any offspring, since the necessary provisions will be lacking. +Salvation for herself and her race depends on this: whether at the first +thrust she is able to reach the little nervous plexus which measures barely +one-fiftieth of an inch in width. What chance has she of plunging her +lancet into it, if there is nothing to guide her? The chance represented by +unity compared with the number of points composing the victim's body. The +odds are as one against immensity. + +Let us proceed still further. The sting has reached the mark; the fat grub +is deprived of movement. At what spots should the egg now be laid? In +front, behind, on the sides, the back or the belly? The choice is not a +matter of indifference. The young grub will pierce the skin of its +provender at the very spot on which the egg was fixed; and, once an opening +is made, it will go ahead without hesitation. If this point of attack is +ill-chosen, the nurseling runs the risk of presently finding under its +mandibles some essential organ, which should have been respected until the +end in order to keep the victuals fresh. Remember how difficult it is to +complete the rearing when the tiny larva is moved from the place chosen by +the mother. The game promptly becomes putrid and the Scolia dies. + +It is impossible for me to state the precise motives which lead to the +adoption of the spot on which the egg is laid; I can perceive general +reasons, but the details escape me, as I am not well enough versed in the +more delicate questions of anatomy and entomological physiology. What I do +know with absolute certainty is that the same spot is invariably chosen for +laying the egg. With not a single exception, on all the victims extracted +from the heap of garden mould--and they are numerous--the egg is fixed +behind the ventral surface, on the verge of the brown patch formed by the +contents of the digestive system. + +If there be nothing to guide her, what chance has the mother of gluing her +egg to this point, which is always the same because it is that most +favourable to successful rearing? A very small point, represented by the +ratio of two or three square millimetres (About 1/100 square inch.-- +Translator's Note.) to the entire surface of the victim's body. + +Is this all? Not yet. The grub is hatched; it pierces the belly of the +Cetonia-larva at the requisite point; it plunges its long neck into the +entrails, ransacking them and filling itself to repletion. If it bite at +random, if it have no other guide in the selection of tit-bits than the +preference of the moment and the violence of an imperious appetite, it will +infallibly incur the danger of being poisoned by putrid food, for the +victim, if wounded in those organs which preserve a remnant of life in it, +will die for good and all at the first mouthfuls. + +The ample joint must be consumed with prudent skill: this part must be +eaten before that and, after that, some other portion, always according to +method, until the time approaches for the last bites. This marks the end of +life for the Cetonia, but it also marks the end of the Scolia's feasting. +If the grub be a novice in the art of eating, if no special instinct guide +its mandibles in the belly of the prey, what chance has it of completing +its perilous meal? As much as a starving Wolf would have of daintily +dissecting his Sheep, when he tears at her gluttonously, rends her into +shreds and gulps them down. + +These four conditions of success, with chance so near to zero in each case, +must all be realized together, or the grub will never be reared. The Scolia +may have captured a larva with close-packed nerve-centres, a Cetonia-grub, +for instance; but this will go for nothing unless she direct her sting +towards the only vulnerable point. She may know the whole secret of the art +of stabbing her victim, but this means nothing if she does not know where +to fasten her egg. The suitable spot may be found, but all the foregoing +will be useless if the grub be not versed in the method to be followed in +devouring its prey while keeping it alive. It is all or nothing. + +Who would venture to calculate the final chance on which the future of the +Scolia, or of her precursor, is based, that complex chance whose factors +are four infinitely improbable occurrences, one might almost say four +impossibilities? And such a conjunction is supposed to be a fortuitous +result, to which the present instinct is due! Come, come! + +>From another point of view again, the Darwinian theory is at variance with +the Scoliae and their prey. In the heap of garden mould which I exploited +in order to write this record, three kinds of larvae dwell together, +belonging to the Scarabaeid group: the Cetonia, the Oryctes and Scarabeus +pentodon. Their internal structure is very nearly similar; their food is +the same, consisting of decomposing vegetable matter; their habits are +identical: they live underground in tunnels which are frequently renewed; +they make a rough egg-shaped cocoon of earthy materials. Environment, diet, +industry and internal structure are all similar; and yet one of these three +larvae, the Cetonia's, reveals a most singular dissimilarity from its +fellow-trenchermen: alone among the Scarabaeidae and, more than that, alone +in all the immense order of insects, it walks upon its back. + +If the differences were a matter of a few petty structural details, falling +within the finical department of the classifier, we might pass them over +without hesitation; but a creature that turns itself upside down in order +to walk with its belly in the air and never adopts any other method of +locomotion, though it possesses legs and good legs at that, assuredly +deserves examination. How did the animal acquire its fantastic mode of +progress and why does it think fit to walk in a fashion the exact contrary +of that adopted by other beasts? + +To these questions the science now in fashion always has a reply ready: +adaptation to environment. The Cetonia-larva lives in crumbling galleries +which it bores in the depths of the soil. Like the sweep who obtains a +purchase with his back, loins and knees to hoist himself up the narrow +passage of a chimney, it gathers itself up, applies the tip of its belly to +one wall of its gallery and its sturdy back to another; and the combined +effort of these two levers results in moving it forward. The legs, which +are used very little, indeed hardly at all, waste away and tend to +disappear, as does any organ which is left unemployed; the back, on the +other hand, the principal motive agent, grows stronger, is furrowed with +powerful folds and bristles with grappling-hooks or hairs; and gradually, +by adaptation to its environment, the creature loses the art of walking, +which it does not practise, and replaces it by that of crawling on its +back, a form of progress better suited to underground corridors. + +So far so good. But now tell me, if you please, why the larvae of the +Oryctes and the Scarabaeus, living in vegetable mould, the larva of the +Anoxia, dwelling in the sand, and the larva of the Cockchafer in our +cultivated fields have not also acquired the faculty of walking on their +backs? In their galleries they follow the chimney-sweep's methods quite as +cleverly as the Cetonia-grub; to move forward they make valiant use of +their backs without yet having come to ambling with their bellies in the +air. Can they have neglected to accommodate themselves to the demands of +their environment? If evolution and environment cause the topsy-turvy +progress of the one, I have the right, if words have any meaning whatever, +to demand as much of the others, since their organization is so much alike +and their mode of life identical. + +I have but little respect for theories which, when confronted with two +similar cases, are unable to interpret the one without contradicting the +other. They make me laugh when they become merely childish. For example: +why has the tiger a coat streaked black and yellow? A matter of +environment, replies one of our evolutionary masters. Ambushed in bamboo +thickets where the golden radiance of the sun is intersected by stripes of +shadow cast by the foliage, the animal, the better to conceal itself, +assumed the colour of its environment. The rays of the sun produced the +tawny yellow of the coat; the stripes of shadow added the black bars. + +And there you have it. Any one who refuses to accept the explanation must +be very hard to please. I am one of these difficult persons. If it were a +dinner-table jest, made over the walnuts and the wine, I would willingly +sing ditto; but alas and alack, it is uttered without a smile, in a solemn +and magisterial manner, as the last word in science! Toussenel, in his day, +asked the naturalists an insidious question. (Alphonse Toussenel (1803- +1885), the author of a number of learned and curious works on ornithology.- +-Translator's Note.) Why, he enquired, have Ducks a little curly feather on +the rump? No one, so far as I know, had an answer for the teasing cross- +examiner: evolution had not been invented then. In our time the reason why +would be forthcoming in a moment, as lucid and as well-founded as the +reason why of the tiger's coat. + +Enough of childish nonsense. The Cetonia-grub walks on its back because it +has always done so. The environment does not make the animal; it is the +animal that is made for the environment. To this simple philosophy, which +is quite antiquated nowadays, I will add another, which Socrates expressed +in these words: + +"What I know best is that I know nothing." + + +CHAPTER 6. THE TACHYTES. + +The family of Wasps whose name I inscribe at the head of this chapter has +not hitherto, so far as I know, made much noise in the world. Its annals +are limited to methodical classifications, which make very poor reading. +The happy nations, men say, are those which have no history. I accept this, +but I also admit that it is possible to have a history without ceasing to +be happy. In the conviction that I shall not disturb its prosperity, I will +try to substitute the living, moving insect for the insect impaled in a +cork-bottomed box. + +It has been adorned with a learned name, derived from the Greek Tachytes, +meaning rapidity, suddenness, speed. The creature's godfather, as we see, +had a smattering of Greek; its denomination is none the less unfortunate: +intended to instruct us by means of a characteristic feature, the name +leads us astray. Why is speed mentioned in this connection? Why a label +which prepares the mind for an exceptional velocity and announces a race of +peerless coursers? Nimble diggers of burrows and eager hunters the Tachytes +are, to be sure, but they are no better than a host of rivals. Not the +Sphex, nor the Ammophila, nor the Bembex, nor many another would admit +herself beaten in either flying or running. At the nesting-season, all this +tiny world of huntresses is filled with astounding activity. The quality of +a speedy worker being common to all, none can boast of it to the exclusion +of the rest. + +Had I had a vote when the Tachytes was christened, I should have suggested +a short, harmonious, well-sounding name, meaning nothing else than the +thing meant. What better, for example, than the term Sphex? The ear is +satisfied and the mind is not corrupted by a prejudice, a source of error +to the beginner. I have not nearly as much liking for Ammophila, which +represents as a lover of the sands an animal whose establishments call for +compact soil. In short, if I had been forced, at all costs, to concoct a +barbarous appellation out of Latin or Greek in order to recall the +creature's leading characteristic, I should have attempted to say, a +passionate lover of the Locust. + +Love of the Locust, in the broader sense of the Orthopteron, an exclusive, +intolerant love, handed down from mother to daughter with a fidelity which +the centuries fail to impair, this, yes, this indeed depicts the Tachytes +with greater accuracy than a name smacking of the race-course. The +Englishman has his roast-beef; the German his sauerkraut; the Russian his +caviare; the Neapolitan his macaroni; the Piedmontese his polenta; the man +of Carpentras his tian. The Tachytes has her Locust. Her national dish is +also that of the Sphex, with whom I boldly associate her. The methodical +classifier, who works in cemeteries and seems to fly the living cities, +keeps the two families far removed from each other because of +considerations and attaching to the nervures of the wings and the joints of +the palpi. At the risk of passing for a heretic, I bring them together at +the suggestion of the menu-card. + +To my own knowledge, my part of the country possesses five species, one and +all addicted to a diet of Orthoptera. Panzer's Tachytes (T. Panzeri, VAN +DER LIND), girdled with red at the base of the abdomen, must be pretty +rare. I surprise her from time to time working on the hard roadside banks +and the trodden edges of the footpaths. There, to a depth of an inch at +most, she digs her burrows, each isolated from the rest. Her prey is an +adult, medium-sized Acridian (Locust or Grasshopper.--Translator's Note.), +such as the White-banded Sphex pursues. The captive of the one would not be +despised by the other. Gripped by the antennae, according to the ritual of +the Sphex, the victim is trailed along on foot and laid beside the nest, +with the head pointing towards the opening. The pit, prepared in advance, +is closed for the time being with a tiny flagstone and some bits of gravel, +in order to avoid either the invasion of a passer-by or obstruction by +landslips during the huntress' absence. A like precaution is taken by the +White-banded Sphex. Both observe the same diet and the same customs. + +The Tachytes clears the entrance to the home and goes in alone. She +returns, puts out her head and, seizing her prey by the antennae, +warehouses it by dragging backwards. I have repeated, at her expense, the +tricks which I used to play on the Sphex. (For the author's experiments +with the Languedocian, the Yellow-winged and the White-edged Sphex, cf. +"The Hunting Wasps": chapter 11.--Translator's Note.) While the Tachytes is +underground, I move the game away. The insect comes up again and sees +nothing at its door; it comes out and goes to fetch its Locust, whom it +places in position as before. This done, it goes in again by itself. In its +absence I once more pull back the prey. Fresh emergence of the Wasp, who +puts things to rights and persists in going down again, still by herself, +however often I repeat the experiment. Yet it would be very easy for her to +put an end to my teasing: she would only have to descend straightway with +her game, instead of leaving it for a moment on her doorstep. But, faithful +to the usages of her race, she behaves as her ancestors behaved before her, +even though the ancient custom happen to be unprofitable. Like the Yellow- +winged Sphex, whom I have teased so often during her cellaring-operations, +she is a narrow conservative, learning nothing and forgetting nothing. + +Let us leave her to do her work in peace. The Locust disappears underground +and the egg is laid upon the breast of the paralysed insect. That is all: +one carcase for each cell, no more. The entrance is stopped at last, first +with stones, which will prevent the trickling of the embankment into the +chamber; next with sweepings of dust, under which every vestige of the +subterranean house disappears. It is now done: the Tachytes will come here +no more. Other burrows will occupy her, distributed at the whim of her +vagabond humour. + +A cell provisioned before my eyes on the 22nd of August, in one of the +walls in the harmas, contained the finished cocoon a week later. (The +harmas was the piece of enclosed waste land in which the author used to +study his insects in their natural state. Cf. "The Life of the Fly," by J. +Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapter 1.-- +Translator's Note.) I have not noted many examples of so rapid a +development. This cocoon recalls, in its shape and texture, that of the +Bembex-wasps. It is hard and mineralized, this is to say, the warp and woof +of silk are hidden by a thick encrustation of sand. This composite +structure seems to me characteristic of the family; at all events I find it +in the three species whose cocoons I know. If the Tachytes are nearly +related to the Spheges in diet, they are far removed from them in the +industry of their larvae. The first are workers in mosaic, encrusting a +network of silk and sand; the second weave pure silk. + +Of smaller size and clad in black with trimmings of silvery down on the +edge of the abdominal segments, the Tarsal Tachytes frequents the ledges of +soft limestone in fairly populous colonies. (T. tarsina, LEP.) (According +to M. J. Perez, to whom I submitted the Wasp of which I am about to speak, +this Tachytes might well be a new species, if it is not Lepelletier's T. +tarsina or its equivalent, Panzer's T. unicolor. Any one wishing to clear +up this point will always recognize the quarrelsome insect by its +behaviour. A minute description seems useless to me in the type of +investigation which I am pursuing.--Author's Note.) August and September +are the season of her labours. Her burrows, very close to one another when +an easily-worked vein presents itself, afford an ample harvest of cocoons +once the site is discovered. In a certain gravel-pit in the neighbourhood, +with vertical walls visited by the sun, I have been able within a short +space of time to collect enough to fill the hollow of my hand completely. +They differ from the cocoons of the preceding species only in their smaller +size. The provisions consist of young Acridians, varying from about a +quarter to half an inch in length. The adult insect does not appear in the +assorted bags of game, being no doubt too tough for the feeble grub. All +the carcases consist of Locust-larvae, whose budding wings leave the back +uncovered and put one in mind of the short skirts of a skimpy jacket. Small +so that it may be tender, the game is numerous so that it may suffice all +needs. I count from two to four carcases to a cell. When the time comes we +will discover the reason for these differences in the rations served. + +The Mantis-killing Tachytes wears a red scarf, like her kinswoman, Panzer's +Tachytes. (The Mantis-hunting Tachytes was submitted to examination by M. +J. Perez, who failed to recognize her. This species may well be new to our +fauna. I confine myself to calling her the Mantis-killing Tachytes and +leave to the specialists the task of adorning her with a Latin name, if it +be really the fact that the Wasp is not yet catalogued. I will be brief in +my delineation. To my thinking the best description is this: mantis-hunter. +With this information it is impossible to mistake the insect, in my +district of course. I may add that it is black, with the first two +abdominal segments, the legs and the tarsi a rusty red. Clad in the same +livery and much smaller than the female, the male is remarkable for his +eyes, which are of a beautiful lemon-yellow when he is alive. The length is +nearly half an inch for the female and a little more than half this for the +male.--Author's Note.) I do not think that she is very widely distributed. +I made her acquaintance in the Serignan woods, where she inhabits, or +rather used to inhabit--for I fear that I have depopulated and even +destroyed the community by my repeated excavations--where she used to +inhabit one of those little mounds of sand which the wind heaps up against +the rosemary clumps. Outside this small community, I never saw her again. +Her history, rich in incident, will be given with all the detail which it +deserves. I will confine myself for the moment to mentioning her rations, +which consist of Mantis-larvae, those of the Praying Mantis predominating. +(Cf. "The Life of the Grasshopper": chapters 6 to 9.--Translator's Note.) +My lists record from three to sixteen heads for each cell. Once again we +note a great inequality of rations, the reason for which we must try to +discover. + +What shall I say of the Black Tachytes (T. nigra, VAN DER LIND) that I have +not already said in telling the story of the Yellow-winged Sphex? ("The +Hunting Wasps": chapters 4 to 6.--Translator's Note.) I have there +described her contests with the Sphex, whose burrow she seems to me to have +usurped; I show her dragging along the ruts in the roads a paralysed +Cricket, seized by the hauling-ropes, his antennae; I speak of her +hesitations, which lead me to suspect her for a homeless vagabond, and +finally on her surrender of her game, with which she seems at once +satisfied and embarrassed. Save for the dispute with the Sphex, an unique +event in my records as observer, I have seen all the rest many a time, but +never anything more. The Black Tachytes, though the most frequent of all in +my neighbourhood, remains a riddle to me. I know nothing of her dwelling, +her larvae, her cocoons, her family-arrangements. All that I can affirm, +judging by the invariable nature of the prey which one sees her dragging +along, is that she must feed her larvae on the same non-adult Cricket that +the Yellow-winged Sphex chooses for hers. + +Is she a poacher, a pillager of other's property, or a genuine huntress? My +suspicions are persistent, though I know how chary a man should be of +suspicions. At one time I had my doubts about Panzer's Tachytes, whom I +grudged a prey to which the White-banded Sphex might have laid claim. To- +day I have no such doubts: she is an honest worker and her game is really +the result of her hunting. While waiting for the truth to be revealed and +my suspicions set aside, I will complete the little that I know of her by +noting that the Black Tachytes passes the winter in the adult form and away +from her cell. She hibernates, like the Hairy Ammophila. In warm, sheltered +places, with low, perpendicular, bare banks, dear to the Wasps, I am +certain of finding her at any time during the winter, however briefly I +investigate the earthen surface, riddled with galleries. I find the +Tachytes cowering singly in the hot oven formed by the end of a tunnel. If +the temperature be mild and the sky clear, she emerges from her retreat in +January and February and comes to the surface of the bank to see whether +spring is making progress. When the shadows fall and the heat decreases, +she reenters her winter-quarters. + +The Anathema Tachytes (T. anathema, VAN DER LIND), the giant of her race, +almost as large as the Languedocian Sphex and, like her, decorated with a +red scarf round the base of the abdomen, is rarer than any of her +congeners. I have come upon her only some four or five times, as an +isolated individual and always in circumstances which will tell us of the +nature of her game with a probability that comes very near to certainty. +She hunts underground, like the Scoliae. In September I see her go down +into the soil, which has been loosened by a recent light shower; the +movement of the earth turned over keeps me informed of her subterranean +progress. She is like the Mole, ploughing through a meadow in pursuit of +his White Worm. She comes out farther on, nearly a yard from the spot at +which she went in. This long journey underground has taken her only a few +minutes. + +Is this due to extraordinary powers of excavation on her part? By no means: +the Anathema Tachytes is an energetic tunneller, no doubt, but, after all, +is incapable of performing so great a labour in so short a time. If the +underground worker is so swift in her progress, it is because the track +followed has already been covered by another. The trail is ready prepared. +We will describe it, for it is clearly defined before the intervention of +the Wasp. + +On the surface of the ground, for a length of two paces at most, runs a +sinuous line, a beading of crumbled soil, roughly the width of my finger. +>From this line of ramifications (others) shoot out to left and right, much +shorter and irregularly distributed. One need not be a great entomological +scholar to recognize, at the first glance, in these pads of raised earth, +the trail of a Mole-cricket, the Mole among insects. It is the Mole-cricket +who, seeking for a root to suit her, has excavated the winding tunnel, with +investigation-galleries grafted to either side of the main road. The +passage is free therefore, or at most blocked by a few landslips, of which +the Tachytes will easily dispose. This explains her rapid journey +underground. + +But what does she do there? For she is always there, in the few +observations which chance affords me. A subterranean excursion would not +attract the Wasp if it had no object. And its object is certainly the +search for some sort of game for her larvae. The inference becomes +inevitable: the Anathema Tachytes, who explores the Mole-cricket's +galleries, gives her larvae this same Mole-cricket as their food. Very +probably the specimen selected is a young one, for the adult insect would +be too big. Besides, to this consideration of quantity is added that of +quality. Young and tender flesh is highly appreciated, as witness the +Tarsal Tachytes, the Black Tachytes and the Mantis-killing Tachytes, who +all three select game that is not yet made tough by age. It goes without +saying that the moment the huntress emerged from the ground I proceeded to +dig up the track. The Mole-cricket was no longer there. The Tachytes had +come too late; and so had I. + +Well, how right was I to define the Tachytes as a Locust lover! What +constancy in the gastronomic rules of the race! And what tact in varying +the game, while keeping within the order of the Orthoptera! What have the +Locust, the Cricket, the Praying Mantis and the Mole-cricket in common, as +regards their general appearance? Why, absolutely nothing! None of us, if +he were unfamiliar with the delicate associations dictated by anatomy, +would think of classing them together. The Tachytes, on the other hand, +makes no mistake. Guided by her instinct, which rivals the science of a +Latreille, she groups them all together. (Pierre Andre Latreille (1762- +1833), one of the founders of entomological science, a professor at the +Musee d'histoire naturelle and member of the Academie des sciences.-- +Translator's Note.) + +This instinctive taxonomy becomes more surprising still if we consider the +variety of the game stored in a single burrow. The Mantis-killing Tachytes, +for instance, preys indiscriminately upon all the Mantides that occur in +her neighbourhood. I see her warehousing three of them, the only varieties, +in fact, that I know in my district. They are the following: the Praying +Mantis (M. religiosa, LIN.), the Grey Mantis (Ameles decolor, CHARP. (Cf. +"The Life of the Grasshopper": chapter 10.--Translator's Note.)) and the +Empusa (E. pauperata, LATR. (Cf. idem: chapter 9.--Translator's Note.)). +The numerical predominance in the Tachytes' cells belongs to the Praying +Mantis; and the Grey Mantis occupies second place. The Empusa, who is +comparatively rare on the brushwood in the neighbourhood, is also rare in +the store-houses of the Wasp; nevertheless her presence is repeated often +enough to show that the huntress appreciates the value of this prey when +she comes across it. The three sorts of game are in the larval state, with +rudimentary wings. Their dimensions, which vary a good deal, fluctuate +between two-fifths and four-fifths of an inch in length. + +The Praying Mantis is a bright green; she boasts an elongated prothorax and +an alert gait. The other Mantis is ash-grey. Her prothorax is short and her +movements heavy. The coloration therefore is no guide to the huntress, any +more than the gait. The green and the grey, the swift and the slow are +unable to baffle her perspicacity. To her, despite the great difference in +appearance, the two victims are Mantes. And she is right. + +But what are we to say of the Empusa? The insect world, at all events in +our parts, contains no more fantastic creature. The children here, who are +remarkable for finding names which really depict the animal, call the larva +"the Devilkin." It is indeed a spectre, a diabolical phantom worthy of the +pencil of a Callot. (Jacques Callot (1592-1635), the French engraver and +painter, famous for the grotesque nature of his subjects.--Translator's +Note.) There is nothing to beat it in the extravagant medley of figures in +his "Temptation of Saint Anthony." Its flat abdomen, scalloped at the +edges, rises into a twisted crook; its peaked head carries on the top two +large, divergent, tusk-shaped horns; its sharp, pointed face, which can +turn and look to either side, would fit the wily purpose of some +Mephistopheles; its long legs have cleaver-like appendages at the joints, +similar to the arm-pieces which the knights of old used to bear upon their +elbows. Perched high upon the shanks of its four hind-legs, with its +abdomen curled, its thorax raised erect, its front-legs, the traps and +implements of warfare, folded against its chest, it sways limply from side +to side, on the tip of the bough. + +Any one seeing it for the first time in its grotesque pose will give a +start of surprise. The Tachytes knows no such alarm. If she catches sight +of it, she seizes it by the neck and stabs it. It will be a treat for her +children. How does she manage to recognize in this spectre the near +relation of the Praying Mantis? When frequent hunting-expeditions have +familiarized her with the last-named and suddenly, in the midst of the +chase, she encounters the Devilkin, how does she become aware that this +strange find makes yet another excellent addition to her larder? This +question, I fear, will never receive an adequate reply. Other huntresses +have already set us the problem; others will set it to us again. I shall +return to it, not to solve it, but to show even more plainly how obscure +and profound it is. But we will first complete the story of the Mantis- +killing Tachytes. + +The colony which forms the subject of my investigations is established in a +mound of fine sand which I myself cut into, a couple of years ago, in order +to unearth a few Bembex larvae. The entrances to the Tachytes' dwelling +open upon the little upright bank of the section. At the beginning of July +the work is in full swing. It must have been going on already for a week or +two, for I find very forward larvae, as well as recent cocoons. There are +here, digging into the sand or returning from expeditions with their booty, +some hundred females, whose burrows, all very close to one another, cover +an area of barely a square yard. This hamlet, small in extent, but +nevertheless densely populated, shows us the Mantis-slayer under a moral +aspect which is not shared by the Locust slayer, Panzer's Tachytes, who +resembles her so closely in costume. Though engaged in individual tasks, +the first seeks the society of her kind, as do certain of the Sphex-wasps, +while the second establishes herself in solitude, after the fashion of the +Ammophila. Neither the personal form nor the nature of the occupation +determines sociability. + +Crouching voluptuously in the sun, on the sand at the foot of the bank, the +males lie waiting for the females, to plague them as they pass. They are +ardent lovers, but cut a poor figure. Their linear dimensions are barely +half those of the other sex, which implies a volume only one-eighth as +great. At a short distance they appear to wear on their heads a sort of +gaudy turban. At close quarters this headgear is seen to consist of the +eyes, which are very large and a bright lemon-yellow and which almost +entirely surround the head. + +At ten o'clock in the morning, when the heat begins to grow intolerable to +the observer, there is a continual coming and going between the burrows and +the tufts of grass, everlasting, thyme and wormwood, which constitute the +Tachytes' hunting-grounds within a moderate radius. The journey is so short +that the Wasp brings her game home on the wing, usually in a single flight. +She holds it by the fore-part, a very judicious precaution, which is +favourable to rapid stowage in the warehouse, for then the Mantis' legs +stretch backwards, along the axis of the body, instead of folding and +projecting sideways, when their resistance would be difficult to overcome +in a narrow gallery. The lanky prey dangles beneath the huntress, all limp, +lifeless and paralysed. The Tachytes, still flying, alights on the +threshold of the home and immediately, contrary to the custom of Panzer's +Tachytes, enters with her prey trailing behind her. It is not unusual for a +male to come upon the scene at the moment of the mother's arrival. He is +promptly snubbed. This is the time for work, not for amusement. The +rebuffed male resumes his post as a watcher in the sun; and the housewife +stows her provisions. + +But she does not always do so without hindrance. Let me recount one of the +misadventures of this work of storage. There is in the neighbourhood of the +burrows a plant which catches insects with glue. It is the Oporto silene +(S. portensis), a curious growth, a lover of the sea-side dunes, which, +though of Portuguese origin, as its name would seem to indicate, ventures +inland, even as far as my part of the country, where it represents perhaps +a survivor of the coastal flora of what was once a Pliocene sea. The sea +has disappeared; a few plants of its shores have remained behind. This +Silene carries in most of its internodes, in those both of the branches and +of the main stalk, a viscous ring, two- to four-fifths of an inch wide, +sharply delimited above and below. The coating of glue is of a pale brown. +Its stickiness is so great that the least touch is enough to hold the +object. I find Midges, Plant-lice and Ants caught in it, as well as tufted +seeds which have blown from the capitula of the Cichoriaceae. A Gad-fly, as +big as a Blue bottle, falls into the trap before my eyes. She has barely +alighted on the perilous perch when lo, she is held by the hinder tarsi! +The Fly makes violent efforts to take wing; she shakes the slender plant +from top to bottom. If she frees her hinder tarsi she remains snared by the +front tarsi and has to begin all over again. I was doubting the possibility +of her escape when, after a good quarter of an hour's struggle, she +succeeded in extricating herself. + +But, where the Gad-fly has got off, the Midge remains. The winged Aphis +also remains, the Ant, the Mosquito and many another of the smaller +insects. What does the plant do with its captures? Of what use are these +trophies of corpses hanging by a leg or a wing? Does the vegetable bird- +limer, with its sticky rings, derive advantage from these death-struggles? +A Darwinian, remembering the carnivorous plants, would say yes. As for me, +I don't believe a word of it. The Oporto silene is ringed with bands of +gum. Why? I don't know. Insects are caught in these snares. Of what use are +they to the plant? Why, none at all; and that's all about it. I leave to +others, bolder than myself, the fantastic idea of taking these annular +exudations for a digestive fluid which will reduce the captured Midges to +soup and make them serve to feed the Silene. Only I warn them that the +insects sticking to the plant do not dissolve into broth, but shrivel, +quite uselessly, in the sun. + +Let us return to the Tachytes, who is also a victim of the vegetable snare. +With a sudden flight, a huntress arrives, carrying her drooping prey. She +grazes the Silene's lime-twigs too closely. Behold the Mantis caught by the +abdomen. For twenty minutes at least the Wasp, still on the wing, tugs at +her, tugging again and again, to overcome the cause of the hitch and +release the spoil. The hauling-method, a continuation of the flight, comes +to nothing; and no other is attempted. At last the insect wearies and +leaves the Mantis hanging to the Silene. + +Now or never was the moment for the intervention of that tiny glimmer of +reason which Darwin so generously grants to animals. Do not, if you please, +confound reason with intelligence, as people are too prone to do. I deny +the one; and the other is incontestable, within very modest limits. It was, +I said, the moment to reason a little, to discover the cause of the hitch +and to attack the difficulty at its source. For the Tachytes the matter was +of the simplest. She had but to grab the body by the skin of the abdomen +immediately above the spot caught by the glue and to pull it towards her, +instead of persevering in her flight without releasing the neck. Simple +though this mechanical problem was, the insect was unable to solve it, +because she was not able to trace the effect back to the cause, because she +did not even suspect that the stoppage had a cause. + +Ants doting on sugar and accustomed to cross a foot-bridge in order to +reach the warehouse are absolutely prevented from doing so when the bridge +is interrupted by a slight gap. They would only need a few grains of sand +to fill the void and restore the causeway. They do not for a moment dream +of it, plucky navvies though they be, capable of raising miniature +mountains of excavated soil. We can get them to give us an enormous cone of +earth, an instinctive piece of work, but we shall never obtain the +juxtaposition of three grains of sand, a reasoned piece of work. The Ant +does not reason, any more than the Tachytes. + +If you bring up a tame Fox and set his platter of food before him, this +creature of a thousand tricks confines himself to tugging with all his +might at the leash which keeps him a step or two from his dinner. He pulls +as the Tachytes pulls, exhausts himself in futile efforts and then lies +down, with his little eyes leering fixedly at the dish. Why does he not +turn round? This would increase his radius; and he could reach then the +food with his hind-foot and pull it towards him. The idea never occurs to +him. Yet another animal deprived of reason. + +Friend Bull, my Dog, is no better-endowed, despite his quality as a +candidate for humanity. In our excursions through the woods, he happens to +get caught by the paw in a wire snare set for rabbits. Like the Tachytes, +he tugs at it obstinately and only pulls the noose tighter. I have to +release him when he does not himself succeed in snapping the wire by his +hard pulling. When he tries to leave the room, if the two leaves of the +door are just ajar, he contents himself with pushing his muzzle, like a +wedge, into the too narrow aperture. He moves forward, pushing in the +direction which he wishes to take. His simple, dog-like method has one +unfailing result: the two leaves of the door, when pushed, merely shut +still closer. It would be easy for him to pull one of them towards him with +his paw, which would make the passage wider; but this would be a movement +backward, contrary to his natural impulse; and so he does not think of it. +Yet another creature that does not reason. + +The Tachytes, who stubbornly persists in tugging at her limed Mantis and +refuses to acknowledge any other method of wresting her from the Silene's +snare, shows us the Wasp in an unflattering light. What a very poor +intellect! The insect becomes only the more wonderful, therefore, when we +consider its supreme talent as an anatomist. Many a time I have insisted +upon the incomprehensible wisdom of instinct; I do so again at the risk of +repeating myself. An idea is like a nail: it is not to be driven in save by +repeated blows. By hitting it again and again, I hope to make it enter the +most rebellious brains. This time I shall attack the problem from the other +end, that is, I shall first allow human knowledge to have its say and shall +then interrogate the insect's knowledge. + +The outward structure of the Praying Mantis would of itself be enough to +teach us the arrangement of the nerve-centres which the Tachytes has to +injure in order to paralyse its victim, which is destined to be devoured +alive but harmless. A narrow and very long prothorax divides the front pair +of legs from the two hinder pairs. There must therefore be an isolated +ganglion in front and two ganglia, close to each other, about two-fifths of +an inch back. Dissection confirms this forecast completely. It shows us +three fairly bulky thoracic ganglia, arranged in the same manner as the +legs. The first which actuates the fore-legs, is placed opposite their +roots. It is the largest of the three. It is also the most important, for +it presides over the insect's weapons, over the two powerful arms, toothed +like saws and ending in harpoons. The other two, divided from the first by +the whole length of the prothorax, each face the origin of the +corresponding legs; consequently they are very near each other. Beyond them +are the abdominal ganglia, which I pass over in silence, as the operating +insect does not have to trouble about them. The movements of the belly are +mere pulsations and are in no way dangerous. + +Now let us do a little reasoning on behalf of our non-reasoning insect. The +sacrificer is weak; the victim is comparatively powerful. Three strokes of +the lancet must abolish all offensive movement. Where will the first stroke +be delivered? In front is a real engine of warfare, a pair of powerful +shears with toothed jaws. Let the fore-arm close upon the upper arm; and +the imprudent insect, crushed between the two saw-blades, will be torn to +pieces; wounded by the terminal hook, it will be eviscerated. This +ferocious mechanism is the great danger; it is this that must be mastered +at the outset, at the risk of life; the rest is less urgent. The first blow +of the stylet, cautiously directed, is therefore aimed at the lethal fore- +legs, which imperil the vivisector's own existence. Above all, there must +be no hesitation. The blow must be accurate then and there, or the +sacrificer will be caught in the vice and perish. The two other pairs of +legs present no danger to the operator, who might neglect them if she had +only her own security to think of; but the surgeon is operating with a view +to the egg, which demands complete immobility in the provisions. Their +centres of innervation will therefore be stabbed as well, with the leisure +which the Mantis, now put out of action, permits. These legs, as well as +their nervous centres, are situated very far behind the first point +attacked. There is a long neutral interval, that of the prothorax, into +which it is quite useless to drive the sting. This interval has to be +crossed; by a backward movement conforming with the secrets of the victim's +internal anatomy, the second ganglion must be reached and then its +neighbour, the third. In short, the surgical operation may be formulated +thus: a first stab of the lancet in front; a considerable movement to the +rear, measuring about two-fifths of an inch; lastly, two lancet-thrusts at +two points very close together. Thus speaks the science of man; thus +counsels reason, guided by anatomical structure. Having said this much let +us observe the insect's practice. + +There is no difficulty about seeing the Tachytes operate in our presence; +we have only to resort to the method of substitution, which has already +done me so much service, that is, to deprive the huntress of her prey and +at once to give her, in exchange, a living Mantis of about the same size. +This substitution is impracticable with the majority of the Tachytes, who +reach the threshold of their dwelling in a single flight and at once vanish +underground with their game. A few of them, from time to time, harassed +perhaps by their burden, chance to alight at a short distance from their +burrow, or even drop their prey. I profit by these rare occasions to +witness the tragedy. + +The dispossessed Wasp recognizes instantly, from the proud bearing of the +substituted Mantis, that she is no longer embracing and carrying off an +inoffensive carcase. Her hovering, hitherto silent, develops a buzz, +perhaps to overawe the victim; her flight becomes an extremely rapid +oscillation, always behind the quarry. It is as who should say the quick +movement of a pendulum swinging without a wire to hang from. The Mantis, +however, lifts herself boldly upon her four hind-legs; she raises the fore- +part of her body, opens, closes and again opens her shears and presents +them threateningly at the enemy; using a privilege which no other insect +shares, she turns her head this way and that, as we do when we look over +our shoulders; she faces her assailant, ready to strike a return blow +wheresoever the attack may come. It is the first time that I have witnessed +such defensive daring. What will be the outcome of it all? + +The Wasp continues to oscillate behind the Mantis, in order to avoid the +formidable grappling-engine; then, suddenly, when she judges that the other +is baffled by the rapidity of her manoeuvres, she hurls herself upon the +insect's back, seizes its neck with her mandibles, winds her legs round its +thorax and hastily delivers a first thrust of the sting, to the front, at +the root of the lethal legs. Complete success! The deadly shears fall +powerless. The operator then lets herself slip as she might slide down a +pole, retreats along the Mantis' back and, going a trifle lower, less than +a finger's breadth, she stops and paralyses, this time without hurrying +herself, the two pairs of hind-legs. It is done: the patient lies +motionless; only the tarsi quiver, twitching in their last convulsions. The +sacrificer brushes her wings for a moment and polishes her antennae by +passing them through her mouth, an habitual sign of tranquillity returning +after the emotions of the conflict; she seizes the game by the neck, takes +it in her legs and flies away with it. + +What do you say to it all? Do not the scientist's theory and the insect's +practice agree most admirably? Has not the animal accomplished to +perfection what anatomy and physiology enabled us to foretell? Instinct, a +gratuitous attribute, an unconscious inspiration, rivals knowledge, that +most costly acquisition. What strikes me most is the sudden recoil after +the first thrust of the sting. The Hairy Ammophila, operating on her +caterpillar, likewise recoils, but progressively, from one segment to the +next. Her deliberate surgery might receive a quasi-explanation if we +ascribe it to a certain uniformity. With the Tachytes and the Mantis this +paltry argument escapes us. Here are no lancet-pricks regularly +distributed; on the contrary, the operating-method betrays a lack of +symmetry which would be inconceivable, if the organization of the patient +did not serve as a guide. The Tachytes therefore knows where her prey's +nerve-centres lie; or, to speak more correctly, she behaves as though she +knew. + +This science which is unconscious of itself has not been acquired, by her +and by her race, through experiments perfected from age to age and habits +transmitted from one generation to the next. It is impossible, I am +prepared to declare a hundred times, a thousand times over, it is +absolutely impossible to experiment and to learn an art when you are lost +if you do not succeed at the first attempt. Don't talk to me of atavism, of +small successes increasing by inheritance, when the novice, if he +misdirected his weapon, would be crushed in the trap of the two saws and +fall a prey to the savage Mantis! The peaceable Locust, if missed, protests +against the attack with a few kicks; the carnivorous Mantis, who is in the +habit of feasting on Wasps far more powerful than the Tachytes, would +protest by eating the bungler; the game would devour the hunter, an +excellent catch. Mantis-paralysing is a most perilous trade and admits of +no half-successes; you have to excel in it from the first, under pain of +death. No, the surgical art of the Tachytes is not an acquired art. Whence +then does it come, if not from the universal knowledge in which all things +move and have their being! + +What would happen if, in exchange for her Praying Mantis, I were to give +the Tachytes a young Grasshopper? In rearing insects at home, I have +already noted that the larvae put up very well with this diet; and I am +surprised that the mother does not follow the example of the Tarsal +Tachytes and provide her family with a skewerful of Locusts instead of the +risky prey which she selects. The diet would be practically the same; and +the terrible shears would no longer be a danger. With such a patient would +her operating-method remain the same; should we again see a sudden recoil +after the first stab under the neck; or would the vivisector modify her art +in conformity with the unfamiliar nervous organization? + +This second alternative is highly improbable. It would be nonsense to +expect to see the paralyser vary the number and the distribution of the +wounds according to the genus of the victim. Supremely skilled in the task +that has fallen to its lot, the insect knows nothing further. + +The first alternative seems to offer a certain chance and deserves a test. +I offer the Tachytes, deprived of her Mantis, a small Grasshopper, whose +hind-legs I amputate to prevent his leaping. The disabled Acridian jogs +along the sand. The Wasp flies round him for a moment, casts a contemptuous +glance upon the cripple and withdraws without attempting action. Let the +prey offered be large or small, green or grey, short or long, rather like +the Mantis or quite different, all my efforts miscarry. The Tachytes +recognizes in an instant that this is no business of hers; this is not her +family game; she goes off without even honouring my Grasshoppers with a +peck of her mandibles. + +This stubborn refusal is not due to gastronomical causes. I have stated +that the larvae reared by my own hands feed on young Grasshoppers as +readily as on young Mantes; they do not seem to perceive any difference +between the two dishes; they thrive equally on the game chosen by me and +that selected by the mother. If the mother sets no value on the +Grasshopper, what then can be the reason of her refusal? I can see only +one: this quarry, which is not hers, perhaps inspires her with fear, as any +unknown thing might do; the ferocious Mantis does not alarm her, but the +peaceable Grasshopper terrifies her. And then, if she were to overcome her +apprehensions, she does not know how to master the Acridian and, above all, +how to operate upon him. To every man his trade, to every Wasp her own way +of wielding her sting. Modify the conditions ever so slightly; and these +skilful paralysers are at an utter loss. + +To every insect also its own art of fashioning the cocoon, an art which +varies greatly, an art in which the larva displays all the resources of its +instincts. The Tachytes, the Bembeces, the Stizi, the Palari and other +burrowers build composite cocoons, hard as fruit-stones, formed of an +encrustation of sand in a network of silk. We are already acquainted with +the work of the Bembex. I will recall the fact that their larva first +weaves a conical, horizontal bag of pure white silk, with wide meshes, held +in place by interlaced threads which fix it to the walls of the cell. I +have compared this bag, because of its shape, with a fishtrap. Without +leaving this hammock, stretching its neck through the orifice, the worker +gathers from without a little heap of sand, which it stores inside its +workshop. Then, selecting the grains one by one, it encrusts them all +around itself in the fabric of the bag and cements them with the fluid from +its spinnerets, which hardens at once. When this task is finished, the +house has still to be closed, for it has been wide open all this time to +permit of the renewal of the store of sand as the heap inside becomes +exhausted. For this purpose a cap of silk is woven across the opening and +finally encrusted with the materials which the larva has retained at its +disposal. + +The Tachytes builds in quite another fashion, although its work, once +finished, does not differ from that of the Bembex. The larva surrounds +itself, to begin with, about the middle of its body with a silken girdle +which a number of threads, very irregularly distributed, hold in place and +connect with the walls of the cell. Sand is collected, within reach of the +worker, on this general scaffolding. Then begins the work of minor masonry, +with grains of sand for rubble and the secretion of the spinnerets for +cement. The first course is laid upon the fore-edge of the suspensory ring. +When the circle is completed, a second course of grains of sand, stuck +together by the fluid silk, is raised upon the hardened edge of what has +just been done. Thus the work proceeds, by ring-shaped courses, laid edge +to edge, until the cocoon, having acquired half of its proper length, is +rounded into a cap and finally is closed. The building-methods of the +Tachytes-larva remind me of a mason constructing a round chimney, a narrow +tower of which he occupies the centre. Turning on his own axis and using +the materials placed to his hand, he encloses himself little by little in +his sheath of masonry. In the same way the worker encloses itself in its +mosaic. To build the second half of the cocoon, the larva turns round and +builds in the same way on the other edge of the original ring. In about +thirty-six hours the solid shell is completed. + +I am rather interested to see the Bembex and the Tachytes, two workers in +the same guild, employ such different methods to achieve the same result. +The first begins by weaving an eel-trap of pure silk and next encrusts the +grains of sand inside; the second, a bolder architect, is economical of the +silk envelope, confines itself to a hanging girdle and builds course by +course. The building-materials are the same: sand and silk; the +surroundings amid which the two artisans work are the same: a cell in a +soil of sandy gravel; yet each of the builders possesses its individual +art, its own plan, its one method. + +The nature of the food has no more effect upon the larva's talents than the +environment in which it lives or the materials employed. The proof of this +is furnished by Stiza ruficornis, another builder of cocoons in grains of +sand cemented with silk. This sturdy Wasp digs her burrows in soft +sandstone. Like the Mantis-killing Tachytes, she hunts the various Mantides +of the countryside, consisting mainly of the Praying Mantis; only her large +size requires them to be more fully developed, without however having +attained the form and the dimensions of the adult. She places three to five +of them in each cell. + +In solidity and volume her cocoon rivals that of the largest Bembex; but it +differs from it, at first sight, by a singular feature of which I know no +other example. From the side of the shell, which is uniformly smoothed on +every side, a rough knob protrudes, a little clod of sand stuck on to the +rest. The work of Stizus ruficornis can at once be recognized, among all +the other cocoons of a similar nature, by this protuberance. + +Its origin will be explained by the method which the larva follows in +constructing its strong-box. At the beginning, a conical bag is woven of +pure white silk; you might take it for the initial eel-trap of the +Bembeces, only this bag has two openings, a very wide one in front and +another, very narrow one at the side. Through the front opening the Stizus +provides itself with sand as and when it spends this material on encrusting +the interior. This strengthens the cocoon; and the cap which closes it is +made next. So far it is exactly like the work of the Bembex. We now have +the worker enclosed, engaged in perfecting the inner wall. For these final +touches a little more sand is needed. It obtains it from outside by means +of the aperture which it has taken the precaution of contriving in the side +of its building, a narrow dormer-window just large enough to allow its +slender neck to pass. When the store has been taken in, this accessory +orifice, which is used only during the last few moments, is closed with a +mouthful of mortar, thrust outward from within. This forms the irregular +nipple which projects from the side of the shell. + +For the present I shall not expatiate further upon Stizus ruficornis, whose +complete biography would be out of place in this chapter. I will limit +myself to mentioning its method of constructing strong-boxes in order to +compare it with that of the Bembex and above all with that of the Tachytes, +a consumer, like itself, of Praying Mantes. From this parallel it seems to +me to follow that the conditions of life in which men see to-day the origin +of instincts--the type of food, the surroundings amid which the larval life +is passed, the materials available for a defensive wrapper and other +factors which the evolutionists are accustomed to invoke--have no actual +influence upon the larva's industry. My three architects in glued sand, +even when all the conditions, down to the nature of the provisions, are the +same, adopt different means to execute an identical task. They are +engineers who have not graduated from the same school, who have not been +educated on the same principles, though the lesson of things is almost the +same for all of them. The workshop, the work, the provisions have not +determined the instinct. The instinct comes first; it lays down laws +instead of being subject to them. + + +CHAPTER 7. CHANGE OF DIET. + +Brillat-Savarin, when pronouncing his famous maxim, "Tell me what you eat +and I will tell you what you are," certainly never suspected the signal +confirmation which the entomological world would bestow upon his saying. +Our gastrosopher was speaking only of the culinary caprices of man rendered +fastidious by the sweets of life; but he might, in a more serious +department of thought, have given his formula a wider and more general +bearing and applied it to the dishes which vary so greatly according to +latitude, climate and customs; he might above all have taken into his +reckoning the harsh realities suffered by the common people, when perhaps +his ideal of moral worth would have been found in a platter of chick-peas +oftener than in a pot of pate de foie gras. No matter: his aphorism, the +mere whimsical sally of an epicure, becomes an imperious truth if we forget +the luxury of the table and look into what is eaten by the little world +which swarms around us. + +To each its mess. The cabbage Pieris consumes the pungent leaves of the +Cruciferae as the food of her infancy; the Silkworm disdains any foliage +other than that of the mulberry-tree. The Spurge Hawk-moth requires the +caustic milk-sap of the tithymals: the Corn-weevil the grain of wheat; the +Pea-weevil, the seeds of the Leguminosae; the Balaninus (A genus of Beetles +including the Acorn-weevil, the Nut-weevil and others.--Translator's Note.) +the hazel-nut, the chestnut, the acorn; the Brachycera (A division of Flies +including the Gad-flies and Robber-flies.--Translator's Note.) the clove of +garlic. Each has its diet, each its plant; and each plant has its customary +guests. Their relations are so precise that in many cases one might +determine the insect by the vegetable which supports it, or the vegetable +by the insect. + +If you know the lily, you may name as a Crioceris the tiny scarlet +Scarabaeid that inhabits it and peoples its leaves with larvae which keep +themselves cool beneath an overcoat of ordure. (For the Lily-beetle, or +Crioceris merdigera, cf. "The Glow-worm and Other Beetles," by J. Henri +Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 16 and 17.-- +Translator's Note.) If you know the Crioceris, you may name as a lily the +plant which she devastates. It will not perhaps be the common or white +lily, but some other representative of the same family--Turk's cap lily, +orange lily, scarlet Martagon, lancifoliate lily, tiger-spotted lily, +golden lily--hailing from the Alps or the Pyrenees, or brought from China +or Japan. Relying on the Crioceris, who is an expert judge of exotic as +well as of native Liliaceae, you may name as a lily the plant with which +you are unacquainted and trust the word of this singular botanical master. +Whether the flower be red, yellow, ruddy-brown or sown with crimson spots, +characteristics so unlike the immaculate whiteness of the familiar flower, +do not hesitate, adopt the name dictated by the Beetle. Where man is liable +to mistake the insect is never mistaken. + +This insect botany, a cause of such grievous tribulations, has always +impressed the worker in the fields, who for all that, is a very indifferent +observer. The man who was the first to see his cabbage-plot devastated by +caterpillars made the acquaintance of the Pieris. Science completed the +process, in its desire to serve a useful purpose or merely to seek truth +for truth's sake; and to-day the relations between the insect and the plant +form a collection of records as important from the philosophical as from +the practical, agricultural point of view. What is much less familiar to +us, because it touches us less nearly, is the zoology of the insect, that +is to say, the selection which it makes, to feed its larva, of this or that +animal species, to the exclusion of others. The subject is so vast that a +volume were not sufficient to exhaust it; besides, data are lacking in the +vast majority of cases. It is reserved for a still very distant future to +raise this point of biology to the level already reached by the question of +vegetable diet. It will be enough if I contribute a few observations +scattered through my writings or my notes. + +What does the Wasp addicted to a predatory life eat, of course in the +larval state? Now, to begin with, we see natural sections which adopt as +their prey different species of one and the same order, in one and the same +group. Thus the Ammophilae hunt exclusively the larvae of the night-flying +Moths. This taste is shared by the Eumenes, a very different genus. (Cf. +"The Mason-wasps" by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de +Mattos: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) The Spheges and Tachytes are +addicted to Orthoptera; the Cerceres, apart from a few exceptions, are +faithful to the Weevil; both the Philanthi and the Palari capture only +Hymenoptera; the Pompili specialize in hunting the Spider; the Astata +revels in the flavour of Bugs; the Bembeces want Flies and nothing else; +the Scoliae enjoy the monopoly of the Lamellicorn-grubs; the Pelopaei +favour the young Epeirae (Or Garden Spiders. Cf. "The Life of the Spider": +chapters 9 to 14 and appendix.--Translator's Note.), the Stizi vary in +opinion: of the two in my neighbourhood, one, S. ruficornis, fills her +larder with Mantes and the other, S. tridentatus, fills it with Cicadellae +(Cf. "The Life of the Grasshopper": chapter 20.--Translator's Note.); +lastly, the Crabronidae (Any Flies akin to the House-fly.--Translator's +Note.). levy tribute upon the rabble of the Muscidae. (Hornets.-- +Translator's Note.) + +Already you see what a magnificent classification of these game-hunters +might be made with a faithfully listed bill of fare. Natural groups stand +out, characterized merely by the identity of their victuals. I trust that +the methodical science of the future will take account of these gastronomic +laws, to the great relief of the entomological novice, who is too often +hampered by the snares of the mouth-parts, the antennae and the nervures of +the wings. I call for a classification in which the insect's aptitudes, its +diet, its industry and its habits shall take precedence of the shape of a +joint in its antennae. It will come; but when? + +If from generalities we descend to details, we shall see that the very +species may, in many instances, be determined from the nature of its +victuals. The number of burrows of Philanthus apivorus which I have +inspected since I have been rummaging the hot roadside embankments, to +enquire into their population, would seem hyperbolical were I able to state +the figures. (For the Bee-eating Philanthus cf. Chapter 10 of the present +volume.--Translator's Note.) They must amount, it seems to me, to +thousands. Well, in this multitude of food-stores, whether recent or +ancient, uncovered for a purpose or encountered by chance, I have not once, +not as often as once, discovered other remains than those of the Hive-bee: +the imperishable wings, still connected in pairs, the cranium and thorax +enveloped in a violet shroud, the winding-sheet which time throws over +these relics. To-day as when I was a beginner, ever so long ago; in the +north as in the south of the country which I explored; in mountainous +regions as on the plains, the Philanthus follows an unvarying diet: she +must have the Hive-bee, always the Bee and never any other, however closely +various other kinds of game resemble the Bee in quality. If, therefore, +when exploring sunny banks, you find beneath the soil a small parcel of +mutilated Bees, that will be enough to point to the existence of a local +colony of Philanthus apivorus. She alone knows the recipe for making potted +Bee-meat. The Crioceris was but now teaching us all about the lily family; +and here the mildewed body of the Bee tells us of the Philanthus and her +lair. + +Similarly the female Ephippiger helps us to identify the Languedocian +Sphex: her relics, the cymbals and the long sabre, are the unmistakable +sign of the cocoon to which they adhere. The black Cricket, with his red- +braided thighs, is the infallible label of the Yellow-winged Sphex; the +larva of Oryctes nasicornis tells us of the Garden Scolia as certainly as +the best description; the Cetonia-grub proclaims the Two-banded Scolia and +the larva of the Anoxia announces the Interrupted Scolia. + +After these exclusive ones, who disdain to vary their meals, let us mention +the eclectics, who, in a group which is generally well-defined, are able to +select among different kinds of game appropriate to their bulk. The Great +Cerceris (Cerceris tuberculata. Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 2 and 3.- +-Translator's Note.) favours above all Cleonus ophthalmicus, one of the +largest of our Weevils; but at need she accepts the other Cleoni, as well +as the kindred genera, provided that the capture be of an imposing size. +Cerceris arenaria (Cf. idem: chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) extends her +hunting-grounds farther afield: any Weevil of average dimensions is to her +a welcome capture. The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris adopts all the Buprestes +indiscriminately, so long as they are not beyond her strength. The Crowned +Philanthus (P. coronatus, FAB.) fills her underground warehouses with +Halicti chosen among the biggest. (Cf. "Bramble-bees and Others" by J. +Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chapters 12 to +14.--Translator's Note.) Much smaller than her kinswoman, Philanthus +raptor, LEP., stores away Halicti chosen among the less large species. Any +adult Acridian approaching an inch in length suits the White-banded Sphex. +The various tidae of the neighbourhood are admitted to the larder of Stizus +ruficornis and of the Mantis-hunting Tachytes on the sole condition of +being young and tender. The largest of our Bembeces (B. rostrata, FAB., and +B. bidentata, VAN DER LIND (For the Rostrate Bembex and the Two-pronged +Bembex, cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 14.--Translator's Note.)) are +eager consumers of Gad-flies. With these chief dishes they associate +relishes levied indifferently from the rest of the Fly clan. The Sandy +Ammophila (A. sabulosa, VAN DER LIND (Cf. idem: chapter 13.--Translator's +Note.)) and the Hairy Ammophila (A. hirsuta, KIRB.) cram into each burrow a +single but corpulent caterpillar, always of the Moth tribe and varying +greatly in coloration, which denotes distinct species. The Silky Ammophila +(A. holosericea, VAN DER LIND. (Cf. idem: chapter 14.--Translator's Note.)) +has a better assorted diet. She requires for each banqueter three or four +items, which include the Measuring-worms, or Loopers, and the caterpillars +of ordinary Moths, all of which are equally appreciated. The Brown-winged +Solenius (S. fascipennis, LEP.), who elects to dwell in the soft dead wood +of old willow-trees, has a marked preference for Virgil's Bee, Eristalis +tenax (Actually the Common Drone-fly and somewhat resembling a Bee in +appearance. Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 14.--Translator's Note.), +willingly adding, sometimes as a side-dish, sometimes as the principal +game, Helophilus pendulus, whose costume is very different. On the faith of +indistinguishable remains, we must no doubt enter a number of other Flies +in her game-book. The Golden-mouthed Hornet (Crabro chrysostomus, LEP.) +another burrower in old willow-trees, prefers the Syrphi, without +distinction of species. (The Syrphi, like the Eristales, resemble Bees +through having the abdomen transversely banded with yellow.--Translator's +Note.) The Wandering Solenius (S. vagus, LEP. (For this Fly-hunting insect +cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapters 1 and 3.--Translator's Note.)), an +inmate of the dry bramble-stems and of the dwarf-elder, lays under +contribution for her larder the genera Syritta, Sphaerophoria, Sarcophaga, +Syrphus, Melanophora, Paragus and apparently many others. The species which +recurs most frequently in my notes is Syritta pipiens. + +Without pursuing this tedious list any farther, we plainly perceive the +general result. Each huntress has her characteristic tastes, so much so +that, when we know the bill of fare, we can tell the genus and very often +the species of the guest, thus proving the proud truth of the maxim, "Tell +me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." + +There are some which always need the same prey. The offspring of the +Languedocian Sphex religiously consume the Ephippiger, that family dish so +dear to their ancestors and no less dear to their descendants; no +innovation in the ancient usages can tempt them. Others are better suited +by variety, for reasons connected with flavour or with facility of supply; +but then the selection of the game is kept within fixed limits. A natural +group, a genus, a family, more rarely almost a whole order: this is the +hunting-ground beyond which poaching is strictly forbidden. The law is +absolute; and one and all scrupulously refrain from transgressing it. + +In the place of the Praying Mantis, offer the Mantis-hunting Tachytes an +equivalent in the shape of a Locust. She will scorn the morsel, though it +would seem to be of excellent flavour, seeing that Panzer's Tachytes +prefers it to any other form of game. Offer her a young Empusa, who differs +so widely from the Mantis in shape and colour: she will accept without +hesitation and operate before your eyes. Despite its fantastic appearance, +the Devilkin is instantly recognized by the Tachytes as a Mantid and +therefore as game falling within her scope. + +In exchange for her Cleonus, give to the Great Cerceris a Buprestis, the +delight of one of her near kinsfolk. She will have nothing to say to the +sumptuous dish. Accept that! She, a Weevil-eater! Never in this world! +Present her with a Cleonus of a different species, or any other large +Weevil, of a sort which she has most probably never seen before, since it +does not figure on the inventory of the provisions in her burrows. This +time there is no show of disdain: the victim is seized and stabbed in the +regulation manner and forthwith stored away. + +Try to persuade the Hairy Ammophila that Spiders have a nutty flavour, as +Lalande asserts; and you will see how coldly your hints are received. +(Joseph Jerome Le Francois de Lalande (1732-1807), the astronomer. Even +after he had achieved his reputation, he sought means, outside the domain +of science, to make himself talked about and found these in the display +partly of odd tastes, such as that for eating Spiders and caterpillars, and +partly of atheistical opinions.--Translator's Note.) Try merely to convince +her that the caterpillar of a Butterfly is as good to eat as the +caterpillar of a Moth. You will not succeed. But, if you substitute for her +underground larva, which I suppose to be grey, another underground larva +striped with black, yellow, rusty-red or any other tint, this change of +coloration will not prevent her from recognizing, in the substituted dish, +a victim to her liking, an equivalent of her Grey Worm. + +So with the rest, so far as I have been able to experiment with them. Each +obstinately refuses what is alien to her hunting-preserves, each accepts +whatever belongs to them, always provided that the game substituted is much +the same in size and development as that whereof the owner has been +deprived. Thus the Tarsal Tachytes, an appreciative epicure of tender +flesh, would not consent to replace her pinch of young Acridian-grubs with +the one big Locust that forms the food of Panzer's Tachytes; and the +latter, in her turn, would never exchange her adult Acridian for the +other's menu of small fry. The genus and the species are the same, but the +age differs; and this is enough to decide the question of acceptance or +refusal. + +When its depredations cover a somewhat extensive group, how does the insect +manage to recognize the genera, the species composing her allotted portion +and to distinguish them from the rest with an assured vision which the +inventory of her burrows proves never to be at fault? Is it the general +appearance that guides her? No, for in some Bembex-burrows we shall find +Sphaerophoriae, those slender, thong-like creatures, and Bombylii, looking +like velvet pincushions; no again, for in the pits of the Silky Ammophila +we shall see, side by side, the caterpillar of the ordinary shape and the +Measuring-worm, a living pair of compasses which progresses by alternately +opening out and closing; no, once more, for in the storerooms of Stizus +ruficornis and the Mantis-hunting Tachytes we see stacked beside the Mantis +the Empusa, her unrecognizable caricature. + +Is it the colouring? Not at all. There is no lack of instances. What a +variety of hues and metallic reflections, distributed in a host of +different fashions, appear in the Buprestes that are hunted by the Cerceris +celebrated by Leon Dufour. (Jean Marie Leon Dufour (1780-1865) was an army +surgeon who served with distinction in several campaigns and subsequently +practised as a doctor in the Landes. He attained great eminence as a +naturalist. Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 1; also "The Life of the +Spider": chapter 1.--Translator's Note.) A painter's palette, containing +crushed gold, bronze, ruby and amethyst, would find it difficult to rival +these sumptuous colours. Nevertheless the Cerceris makes no mistake: all +this nation of insects, so indifferently attired, represents to her, as to +the entomologist, the nation of the Buprestes. The inventory of the +Hornet's larder will include Diptera clad in grey or russet frieze; others +are girdled with yellow, flecked with white, adorned with crimson lines; +others are steel-blue, ebony black, or coppery green; and underneath this +variety of dissimilar costumes we find the invariable Fly. + +Let us take a concrete example. Ferrero's Cerceris (C. Ferreri, VAN DER +LIND) consumes Weevils. Her burrows are usually lined with Phynotomi and +Sitones both an indeterminate grey, and Otiorhynchi, black or tan-coloured. +Now I have sometimes happened to unearth from her cells a collection of +veritable jewels which, thanks to their bright metallic lustre, made a most +striking contrast with the sombre Otiorhynchus. These were the Rhynchites +(R. betuleti), who roll the vine-leaves into cigars. Equally magnificent, +some of them were azure blue, others copper gilt, for the cigar-roller has +a twofold colouring. How did the Cerceris manage to recognize in these +jewels the Weevil, the near relative of the vulgar Phynotomus? Any such +encounters probably found her lacking in expert knowledge; her race cannot +have handed down to her other than very indeterminate propensities, for she +does not appear to make frequent use of the Rhynchites, as is proved by my +infrequent discovery of them amid the mass of my numerous excavations. For +the first time, perhaps, passing through a vineyard, she saw the rich +Beetle gleaming on a leaf; it was not for her a dish in current +consumption, consecrated by the ancient usages of the family. It was +something novel, exceptional, extraordinary. Well, this extraordinary +creature is recognized with certainty as a Weevil and stored away as such. +The glittering cuirass of the Rhynchites goes to take its place beside the +grey cloak of the Phynotomus. No, it is not the colour that guides the +choice. + +Neither is it the shape. Cerceris arenaria hunts any medium-sized Weevil. I +should be putting the reader's patience to too great a test if I attempted +to give in this place a complete inventory of the specimens identified in +her larder. I will mention only two, which my latest searches around my +village have revealed. The Wasp goes hunting on the holm-oaks of the +neighbouring hills the Pubescent Brachyderes (B. pubescens) and the Acorn- +weevil (Balaninus glandium). What have these two Beetles in common as +regards shape? I mean by shape not the structural details which the +classifier examines through his magnifying-glass, not the delicate features +which a Latreille would quote when drawing up a technical description, but +the general picture, the general outline that impresses itself upon the +vision even of an untrained eye and makes the man who knows nothing of +science and above all the child, a most perspicacious observer, connect +certain animals together. + +In this respect, what have the Brachyderes and the Balaninus in common in +the eyes of the townsman, the peasant, the child or the Cerceris? +Absolutely nothing. The first has an almost cylindrical figure; the second, +squat, short and thickset, is conical in front and elliptical, or rather +shaped like the ace of hearts, behind. The first is black, strewn with +cloudy, mouse-grey spots; the second is yellow ochre. The head of the first +ends in a sort of snout; the head of the second tapers into a curved beak, +slender as a horse-hair and as long as the rest of the body. The +Brachyderes has a massive proboscis, cut off short; the Balaninus seems to +be smoking an insanely long cigarette-holder. + +Who would think of connecting two creatures so unlike, of calling them by +the same name? Outside the professional classifiers, no one would dare to. +The Cerceris, more perspicacious, knows each of them for a Weevil, a quarry +with a concentrated nervous system, lending itself to the surgical feat of +her single stroke of the lancet. After obtaining an abundant booty at the +cost of the blunt-mouthed insect, with which she sometimes stuffs her +cellars to the exclusion of any other fare, according to the hazards of the +chase, she now suddenly sees before her the creature with the extravagant +proboscis. Accustomed to the first, will she fail to know the second? By no +means: at the first glance she recognizes it as her own; and the cell +already furnished with a few Brachyderes receives its complement of +Balanini. If these two species are to seek, if the burrows are far from the +holm-oaks, the Cerceris will attack Weevils displaying the greatest variety +of genus, species, form and coloration, levying tribute indifferently on +Sitones, Cneorhini, Geonemi, Otiorhynchi, Strophosomi and many others. + +In vain do I rack my brains merely to guess at the signs upon which the +huntress relies as a guide, without going outside one and the same group, +in the midst of such a variety of game; above all by what characteristics +she recognizes as a Weevil the strange Acorn Balaninus, the only one among +her victims that wears a long pipe-stem. I leave to evolutionism, atavism +and other transcendental "isms" the honour and also the risk of explaining +what I humbly recognize as being too far beyond my grasp. Because the son +of the bird-catcher who imitates the call of his victims has been fed on +roast Robins, Linnets and Chaffinches, shall we hastily conclude that this +education through the stomach will enable him later, without other +initiation than that of the spit, to know his way about the ornithological +groups and to avoid confusing them when his turn comes to set his limed +twigs? Will the digesting of a ragout of little birds, however often +repeated by him or his ascendants, suffice to make him a finished bird- +catcher? The Cerceris has eaten Weevil; her ancestors have all eaten +Weevil, religiously. If you see in this the reason that makes the Wasp a +Weevil-expert endowed with a perspicacity unrivalled save by that of a +professional entomologist, why should you refuse to admit that the same +consequences would follow in the bird-catcher's family? + +I hasten to abandon these insoluble problems in order to attack the +question of provisions from another point of view. Every Hunting Wasp is +confined to a certain genus of game, which is usually strictly limited. She +pursues her appointed quarry and regards anything outside it with suspicion +and distaste. The tricks of the experimenter, who drags her prey from under +her and flings her another in exchange, the emotions of the possessor +deprived of her property and immediately recovering it, but under another +form, are powerless to put her on the wrong scent. Obstinately she refuses +whatever is alien to her portion; instantly she accepts whatever forms part +of it. Whence arises this insuperable repugnance for provisions to which +the family is unaccustomed? Here we may appeal to experiment. Let us do so: +its dictum is the only one that can be trusted. + +The first idea that presents itself and the only one, I think, that can +present itself is that the larva, the carnivorous nurseling, has its +preferences, or we had better say its exclusive tastes. This kind of game +suits it; that does not; and the mother provides it with food in conformity +with its appetites, which are unchangeable in each species. Here the family +dish is the Gad-fly; elsewhere it is the Weevil; elsewhere again it is the +Cricket, the Locust and the Praying Mantis. Good in themselves, in a +general way, these several victuals may be noxious to a consumer who is not +used to them. The larva which dotes on Locust may find caterpillar a +detestable fare; and that which revels in caterpillar may hold Locust in +horror. It would be hard for us to discover in what manner Cricket-flesh +and Ephippiger-flesh differ as juicy, nourishing foodstuffs; but it does +not follow that the two Sphex-wasps addicted to this diet have not very +decided opinions on the matter, or that each of them is not filled with the +highest esteem for its traditional dish and a profound dislike for the +other. There is no discussing tastes. + +Moreover, the question of health may well be involved. There is nothing to +tell us that the Spider, that treat for the Pompilus, is not poison, or at +least unwholesome food, to the Bembex, the lover of Gad-flies; that the +Ammophila's succulent caterpillar is not repugnant to the stomach of the +Sphex fed upon the dry Acridian. The mother's esteem for one kind of game +and her distrust of another would in that case be due to the likes and +dislikes of her larvae; the victualler would regulate the bill of fare by +the gastronomic demands of the victualled. + +This exclusiveness of the carnivorous larva seems all the more probable +inasmuch as the larva reared on vegetable food refuses in any way to lend +itself to a change of diet. However pressed by hunger, the caterpillar of +the Spurge Hawk-moth, which browses on the tithymals, will allow itself to +starve in front of a cabbage leaf which makes a peerless meal for the +Pieris. Its stomach, burned by pungent spices, will find the Crucifera +insipid and uneatable, though its piquancy is enhanced by essence of +sulphur. The Pieris, on its part, takes good care not to touch the +tithymals: they would endanger its life. The caterpillar of the Death's- +head Hawk-moth requires the solanaceous narcotics, principally the potato, +and will have nothing else. All that is not seasoned with solanin it +abhors. And it is not only larvae whose food is strongly spiced with +alkaloids and other poisonous substances that refuse any innovation in +their food; the others, even those whose diet is least juicy, are +invincibly uncompromising. Each has its plant or its group of plants, +beyond which nothing is acceptable. + +I remember a late frost which had nipped the buds of the mulberry-trees +during the night, just when the first leaves were out. Next day there was +great excitement among my neighbours: the Silk-worms had hatched and the +food had suddenly failed. The farmers had to wait for the sun to repair the +disaster; but how were they to keep the famishing new-born grubs alive for +a few days? They knew me for an expert in plants; by collecting them as I +walked through the fields I had earned the name of a medical herbalist. +With poppy-flowers I prepared an elixir which cleared the sight; with +borage I obtained a syrup which was a sovran remedy for whooping-cough; I +distilled camomile; I extracted the essential oil from the wintergreen. In +short, botany had won for me the reputation of a quack doctor. After all, +that was something. + +The housewives came in search of me from every point of the compass and +with tears in their eyes explained the situation. What could they give +their Silk-worms while waiting for the mulberry to sprout afresh? It was a +serious matter, well worthy of commiseration. One was counting on her batch +to buy a length of cloth for her daughter, who was on the point of getting +married; another told me of her plans for a Pig to be fattened against the +coming winter; all deplored the handful of crown-pieces which, hoarded in +the hiding-place in the cupboard, would have afforded help in difficult +times. And, full of their troubles, they unfolded, before my eyes, a scrap +of flannel on which the vermin were swarming: + +"Regardas, moussu! Venoun d'espeli; et ren per lour douna! Ah, pecaire!" +"Look, sir! The frost has come and we've nothing to give them! Oh, what a +misfortune!" + +Poor people! What a harsh trade is yours: respectable above all others, but +of all the most uncertain! You work yourselves to death; and, when you have +almost reached your goal, a few hours of a cold night, which comes upon you +suddenly, destroys your harvest. To help these afflicted ones seemed to me +a very difficult thing. I tried, however, taking botany as my guide; it +suggested to me, as substitutes for the mulberry, the members of closely- +related families: the elm, the nettle-tree, the nettle, the pellitory. +Their nascent leaves, chopped small, were offered to the Silk-worms. Other +and far less logical attempts were made, in accordance with the inspiration +of the individuals. Nothing came of them. To the last specimen, the new- +born Silk-worms died of hunger. My renown as a quack must have suffered +somewhat from this check. Was it really my fault? No, it was the fault of +the Silk-worm, which remained faithful to its mulberry leaf. + +It was therefore in nearly the certainty of non-fulfilment that I made my +first attempts at rearing carnivorous larvae with a quarry which did not +conform with the customary regimen. For conscience' sake, more or less +perfunctorily, I endeavoured to achieve something that seemed to me bound +to end in pitiful failure. Only the Bembex-wasps, which are plentiful in +the sand of the neighbouring hills, might still afford me, without too +prolonged a search, a few subjects on which to experiment. The Tarsal +Bembex furnished me with what I wanted: larvae young enough to have still +before them a long period of feeding and yet sufficiently developed to +endure the trials of a removal. + +These larva are exhumed with all the consideration which their delicate +skin demands; a number of head of game are likewise unearthed intact, +having been recently brought by the mother. They consist of various +Diptera, including some Anthrax-flies. (Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapters +2 and 4.--Translator's Note.) An old sardine-box, containing a layer of +sifted sand and divided into compartments by paper partitions, receives my +charges, who are isolated one from another. These Fly-eaters I propose to +turn into Grasshopper-eaters; for their Bembex-diet I intend to substitute +the diet of a Sphex or a Tachytes. To save myself tedious errands devoted +to provisioning the refectory, I accept what good fortune offers me at the +very threshold of my door. A green Locustid, with a short sabre bent into a +reaping-hook, Phaneroptera falcata, is ravaging the corollae of my +petunias. Now is the time to indemnify myself for the damage which she has +caused me. I pick her young, half to three-quarters of an inch in length; +and I deprive her of movement, without more ado, by crushing her head. In +this condition she is served up to the Bembex-larvae in place of their +Flies. + +If the reader has shared my convictions of failure, convictions based on +very logical motives, he will now share my profound surprise. The +impossible becomes possible, the senseless becomes reasonable and the +expected becomes the opposite of the real. The dish served on the Bembeces' +table for the first time since Bembeces came into the world is accepted +without any repugnance and consumed with every mark of satisfaction. I will +here set down the detailed diary of one of my guests; that of the others +would only be a repetition, save for a few variations. + +2 AUGUST, 1883.--The larva of the Bembex, as I extract it from its burrow, +is about half-developed. Around it I find only some scanty relics of its +meals, consisting chiefly of Anthrax-wings, half-diaphanous and half- +clouded. The mother would appear to have completed the victualling by fresh +contributions, added day by day. I give the nurseling, which is an Anthrax- +eater, a young Phaneroptera. The Locustid is attacked without hesitation. +This profound change in the character of its victuals does not seem in the +least to disturb the larva, which bites straight into the rich morsel with +its mandibles and does not let go until it has exhausted it. Towards +evening the drained carcase is replaced by another, quite fresh, of the +same species but bulkier, measuring over three-quarters of an inch. + +3 AUGUST.--Next day I find the Phaneroptera devoured. Nothing remains but +the dry integuments, which are not dismembered. The entire contents have +disappeared; the game has been emptied through a large opening made in the +belly. A regular Grasshopper-eater could not have operated more skilfully. +I replace the worthless carcase by two small Locustidae. At first the larva +does not touch them, being amply sated with the copious meal of the day +before. In the afternoon, however, one of the items is resolutely attacked. + +4 AUGUST.--I renew the victuals, although those of the day before are not +finished. For the rest, I do the same daily, so that my charge may +constantly have fresh food at hand. High game might upset its stomach. My +Locustidae are not victims at the same time living and inert, operated upon +according to the delicate method of the insects that paralyse their prey; +they are corpses, procured by a brutal crushing of the head. With the +temperature now prevailing, flesh soon becomes tainted; and this compels me +frequently to renew the provisions in my sardine-box refectory. Two +specimens are served up. One is attacked soon afterwards; and the larva +clings to it assiduously. + +5 AUGUST.--The ravenous appetite of the start is becoming assuaged. My +supplies may well be too generous; and it might be prudent to try a little +dieting after this Gargantuan good cheer. The mother certainly is more +parsimonious. If all the family were to eat at the same rate as my guest, +she would never be able to keep pace with their demands. Therefore, for +reasons of health, this is a day of fasting and vigil. + +6 AUGUST.--Supplies are renewed with two Phaneropterae. One is consumed +entirely; the other is bitten into. + +7 August.--To-day's ration is tasted and then abandoned. The larva seems +uneasy. With its pointed mouth it explores the walls of its chamber. This +sign denotes the approach of the time for making the cocoon. + +8 AUGUST.--During the night the larva has spun its silken eel-trap. It is +now encrusting it with grains of sand. Then follow, in due time, the normal +phases of the metamorphosis. Fed on Locustidae, a diet unknown to its race, +the larva passes through its several stages without any more difficulty +than its brothers and sisters fed on Flies. + +I obtained the same success in offering young Mantes for food. One of the +larvae thus served would even incline me to believe that it preferred the +new dish to the traditional diet of its race. Two Eristales, or Drone- +flies, and a Praying Mantis an inch long composed its daily allowance. The +Drone-flies are disdained from the first mouthful; and the Mantis, already +tasted and apparently found excellent, causes the Fly to be completely +forgotten. Is this an epicure's preference, due to the greater juiciness of +the flesh? I am not in a position to say. At all events, the Bembex is not +so infatuated with Fly as to refuse to abandon it for other game. + +The failure which I foresaw has proved a magnificent success. It is fairly +convincing, is it not? Without the evidence of experiment, what can we rely +upon? Beneath the ruins of so many theories which appeared to be most +solidly erected I should hesitate to admit that two and two make four if +the facts were not before me. My argument had the most tempting probability +on its side, but it had not the truth. As it is always possible to find +reasons after the event in support of an opinion which one would not at +first admit, I should now argue as follows: + +The plant is the great factory in which are elaborated, with mineral +materials, the organic principles which are the materials of life. Certain +products are common to the whole vegetable series, but others, far less +numerous, are prepared in special laboratories. Each genus, each species +has its trade-mark. Here essential oils are manufactured; here alkaloids; +here starches, fatty substances, resins, sugars, acids. Hence result +special energies, which do not suit every herbivorous animal. It assuredly +requires a stomach made expressly for the purpose to digest aconite, +colchicum, hemlock or henbane; those who have not such a stomach could +never endure a diet of that sort. Besides, the Mithridates fed on poison +resist only a single toxin. (Mithridates VI. King of Pontus (d. B.C. 63) is +said to have secured immunity from poison by taking increased doses of it.- +-Translator's Note.) The caterpillar of the Death's-head Hawk-moth, which +delights in the solanin of the potato, would be killed by the acrid +principle of the tithymals that form the food of the Spurge-caterpillar. +The herbivorous larvae are therefore perforce exclusive in their tastes, +because different genera of vegetables possess very different properties. + +With this variety in the products of the plant, the animal, a consumer far +more than a producer, contrasts the uniformity in its own products. The +albumen in the egg of the Ostrich or the Chaffinch, the casein in the milk +of the Cow or the Ass, the muscular flesh of the Wolf or the Sheep, the +Screech-owl or the Field-mouse, the Frog or the Earth-worm: these remain +albumen, casein or fibrin, edible if not eaten. Here are no excruciating +condiments, no special acridities, no alkaloids fatal to any stomach other +than that of the appointed consumer; so that animal food is not confined to +one and the same eater. What does not man eat, from that delicacy of the +arctic regions, soup made of Seal's blood and a scrap of Whale-blubber +wrapped in a willow-leaf for a vegetable, to the Chinaman's fried Silk-worm +or the Arab's dried Locust? What would he not eat, if he had not to +overcome the repugnance dictated by habit rather than by actual necessity? +The prey being uniform in its nutritive principles, the carnivorous larva +ought to accommodate itself to any sort of game, above all if the new dish +be not too great a departure from consecrated usage. Thus should I argue, +with no less probability on my side, had I to begin all over again. But, as +all our arguments have not the value of a single fact, I should be forced +in the end to resort to experiment. + +I did so the next year, on a larger scale and with a greater variety of +subjects. I shrink from a continuous narrative of my experiments and of my +personal education in this new art, where the failure of one day taught me +the way to succeed on the morrow. It would be long and tedious. Enough if I +briefly state my results and the conditions which must be fulfilled in +order to run the delicate refectory as it should be run. + +And, first, we must not dream of detaching the egg from its natural prey to +lay it on another. The egg adheres pretty firmly, by its cephalic pole, to +the quarry. To remove it from its place would inevitably jeopardize its +future. I therefore let the larva hatch and acquire sufficient strength to +bear the removal without peril. For that matter, my excavations most often +provide me with my subjects in the form of larvae. I adopt for rearing- +purposes the larvae that are a quarter to a half developed. The others are +too young and risky to handle, or too old and limited to a short period of +artificial feeding. + +Secondly, I avoid bulky heads of game, a single one of which would suffice +for the whole growing-stage. I have already said and I here repeat how nice +a matter it is to consume a victim which has to keep fresh for a couple of +weeks and not to finish dying until it is almost entirely devoured. Death +here leaves no corpse; when life is extinct, the body has disappeared, +leaving only a shred of skin. Larvae with only one large prey have a +special art of eating, a dangerous art, in which a clumsy bite would prove +fatal. If bitten before the proper time at such a point, the victim becomes +putrid, which promptly causes death by poisoning in the consumer. When +diverted from its plan of attack, deprived of its clue, the larva is not +always able to rediscover the lawful morsels in good time and is killed by +the decomposition of its badly dissected prey. What will happen if the +experimenter gives it a game to which it is not accustomed? Not knowing how +to eat it according to rule, the larva will kill it; and by next day the +victuals will have become so much toxic putrescence. I have already told +how I found it impossible to rear the Two-banded Scolia on Oryctes-larvae, +fastened down to deprive them of movement, or even on Ephippigers, +paralysed by the Languedocian Sphex. In both cases the new diet was +accepted without hesitation, a proof that it suited the nurseling; but in a +day or two putrescence supervened and the Scolia perished on the fetid +morsel. The method of preserving the Ephippiger, so well known to the +Sphex, was unknown to my boarder; in this was enough to convert a delicious +food into poison. + +Even so did my other attempts miscarry wretchedly, attempts at feeding with +the single dish consisting of one big head of game to replace the normal +ration. Only one success is recorded in my notebooks, but that was so +difficult that I would not undertake to obtain it a second time. I +succeeded in feeding the larva of the Hairy Ammophila with an adult black +Cricket, who was accepted as readily as the natural game, the caterpillar. + +To avoid putrefaction of victuals which last overlong and are not consumed +according to the method indispensable to their preservation, I employ small +game, each piece of which can be finished by the larva at a single sitting, +or at most in a single day. It matters little then that the victim is +slashed and dismembered at random; decomposition has no time to seize upon +its still quivering tissues. This is the procedure of those larvae which +gulp down their food, snapping at random without distinguishing one part +from another, such as the Bembex-larvae, which finish the Fly into which +they have bitten before beginning another in the heap, or the Cerceris- +larvae, which drain their Weevils methodically one after another. With the +first strokes of the mandibles the victim broached may be mortally wounded. +This is no disadvantage: a brief spell suffices to make use of the corpse, +which is saved from putrefaction by being promptly consumed. Close beside +it, the other victims, quite alive though motionless, await their +respective turns and supply reserves of victuals which are always fresh. + +I am too unskilful a butcher to imitate the Wasp and myself to resort to +paralysis; moreover, the caustic liquid injected into the nerve-centres, +ammonia in particular, would leave traces of smell or flavour which might +put off my boarders. I am therefore compelled to deprive my insects of the +power of movement by killing them outright. This makes it impracticable to +provide a sufficiency of provisions beforehand in a single supply: while +one item of the ration was being consumed the rest would spoil. One +expedient alone remains to me, one which entails constant attendance: it is +to renew the provisions each day. When all these conditions are fulfilled, +the success of artificial feeding is still not without its difficulties; +nevertheless, with a little care and above all plenty of patience, it is +almost certain. + +It was thus that I reared the Tarsal Bembex, which eats Anthrax-flies and +other Diptera, on young Locustidae or Mantidae; the Silky Ammophila, whose +diet consists chiefly of Measuring-worms, on small Spiders; the pot-making +Pelopaeus, a Spider-eater, on tender Acridians; the Sand Cerceris, a +passionate lover of Weevils, on Halicti; the Bee-eating Philanthus, which +feeds exclusively on Hive-bees, on Eristales and other Flies. Without +succeeding in my final aim, for reasons which I have just explained, I have +seen the Two-banded Scolia feasting greedily on the grub of the Oryctes, +which was substituted for that of the Cetonia, and putting up with an +Ephippiger taken from the burrow of the Sphex; I have been present at the +repast of three Hairy Ammophilae accepting with an excellent appetite the +Cricket that replaced their caterpillar. One of them, as I have related, +contrived to keep its ration fresh, which enabled it to reach its full +development and to spin its cocoon. + +These examples, the only ones to which my experiments have extended +hitherto, seem to me sufficiently convincing to allow me to conclude that +the carnivorous larva does not have exclusive tastes. The ration supplied +to it by the mother, so monotonous, so limited in quality, might be +replaced by others equally to its taste. Variety does not displease the +larva; it does it as much good as uniformity; indeed, it would be of +greater benefit to the race, as we shall see presently. + + +CHAPTER 8. A DIG AT THE EVOLUTIONISTS. + +To rear a caterpillar-eater on a skewerful of Spiders is a very innocent +thing, unlikely to compromise the security of the State; it is also a very +childish thing, as I hasten to confess, and worthy of the schoolboy who, in +the mysteries of his desk, seeks as best he may some diversion from the +fascinations of his exercise in composition. And I should not have +undertaken these investigations, still less should I have spoken them, not +without some satisfaction, if I had not discerned, in the results obtained +in my refectory, a certain philosophic import, involving, so it seemed to +me, the evolutionary theory. + +It is assuredly a majestic enterprise, commensurate with man's immense +ambitions, to seek to pour the universe into the mould of a formula and +submit every reality to the standard of reason. The geometrician proceeds +in this manner: he defines the cone, an ideal conception; then he +intersects it by a plane. The conic section is submitted to algebra, an +obstetrical appliance which brings forth the equation; and behold, +entreated now in one direction, now in another, the womb of the formula +gives birth to the ellipse, the hyperbola, the parabola, their foci, their +radius vectors, their tangents, their normals, their conjugate axes, their +asymptotes and the rest. It is magnificent, so much so that you are +overcome by enthusiasm, even when you are twenty years old, an age hardly +adapted to the austerities of mathematics. It is superb. You feel as if you +were witnessing the creation of a world. + +As a matter of fact, you are merely observing the same idea from different +points of view, which are illumined by the successive phases of the +transformed formula. All that algebra unfolds for our benefit was contained +in the definition of the cone, but it was contained as a germ, under latent +forms which the magic of the calculus converts into explicit forms. The +gross value which our mind confided to the equation it returns to us, +without loss or gain, in coins stamped with every sort of effigy. And here +precisely is that which constitutes the inflexible rigour of the calculus, +the luminous certainty before which every cultivated mind is forced to bow. +Algebra is the oracle of the absolute truth, because it reveals nothing but +what the mind had hidden in it under an amalgam of symbols. We put 2 and 2 +into the machine; the rollers work and show us 4. That is all. + +But to this calculus, all-powerful so long as it does not leave the domain +of the ideal, let us submit a very modest reality: the fall of a grain of +sand, the pendular movement of a hanging body. The machine no longer works, +or does so only by suppressing almost everything that is real. It must have +an ideal material point, an ideal rigid thread, an ideal point of +suspension; and then the pendular movement is translated by a formula. But +the problem defies all the artifices of analysis if the oscillating body is +a real body, endowed with volume and friction; if the suspensory thread is +a real thread, endowed with weight and flexibility; if the point of support +is a real point, endowed with resistance and capable of deflection. So with +other problems, however simple. The exact reality escapes the formula. + +Yes, it would be a fine thing to put the world into an equation, to assume +as the first principle a cell filled with albumen and by transformation +after transformation to discover life under its thousand aspects as the +geometrician discovers the ellipse and the other curves by examining his +conic section. Yes, it would be magnificent and enough to add a cubit to +our stature. Alas, how greatly must we abate our pretensions! The reality +is beyond our reach when it is only a matter of following a grain of dust +in its fall; and we would undertake to ascend the river of life and trace +it to its source! The problem is a more arduous one than that which algebra +declines to solve. There are formidable unknown quantities here, more +difficult to decipher than the resistances, the deflections and the +frictions of the pendulum. Let us eliminate them, that we may more easily +propound the theory. + +Very well; but then my confidence in this natural history which repudiates +nature and gives ideal conceptions precedence over real facts is shaken. +So, without seeking the opportunity, which is not my business, I take it +when it presents itself; I examine the theory of evolution from every side; +and, as that which I have been assured is the majestic dome of a monument +capable of defying the ages appears to me to be no more than a bladder, I +irreverently dig my pin into it. + +Here is the latest dig. Adaptability to a varied diet is an element of +well-being in the animal, a factor of prime importance for the extension +and predominance of its race in the bitter struggle for life. The most +unfortunate species would be that which depended for its existence on a +diet so exclusive that no other could replace it. What would become of the +Swallow if he required, in order to live, one particular Gnat, a single +Gnat, always the same? When once this Gnat had disappeared--and the life of +the Mosquito is not a long one--the bird would die of starvation. +Fortunately for himself and for the happiness of our homes, the Swallow +gulps them all down indiscriminately, together with a host of other insects +that perform aerial ballets. What would become of the Lark were his gizzard +able to digest only one seed, invariably the same? When the season for this +seed was over--and the season is always a short one--the haunter of the +furrows would perish. + +Is not man's complaisant stomach, adapted to the largest variety of +nourishment, one of his great zoological privileges? He is thus rendered +independent of climates, seasons and latitudes. And the Dog: how is it that +of all the domestic animals he alone is able to accompany us everywhere, +even on the most arduous expeditions? The Dog again is omnivorous and +therefore a cosmopolitan. + +The discovery of a new dish, said Brillat-Savarin, is of greater importance +to humanity than the discovery of a new planet. The aphorism is nearer to +the truth than it appears to be in its humorous form. Certainly the man who +was the first to think of crushing wheat, kneading flour and cooking the +paste between two hot stones was more deserving than the discoverer of the +two-hundredth asteroid. The invention of the potato is certainly as +valuable as that of Neptune, glorious as the latter was. All that increases +our alimentary resources is a discovery of the first merit. And what is +true of man cannot be other than true of animals. The world belongs to the +stomach which is independent of specialities. This truth is of the kind +that has only to be stated to be proved. + +Let us now return to our insects. If I am to believe the evolutionists, the +various game-hunting Wasps are descended from a small number of types, +which are themselves derived, by an incalculable number of concatenations, +from a few amoebae, a few monera and lastly from the first clot of +protoplasm which was casually condensed. Let us not go back as far as that; +let us not plunge into the fogs where illusion and error too easily find a +lurking-place. Let us consider a subject with exact limits to it; this is +the only way to understand one another. + +The Sphegidae are descended from a single type, which itself was already a +highly-developed descendant and, like its successors, fed its family on +prey. The close similarity in form, in colouring and, above all, in habits +seem to refer the Tachytes to the same origin. This is ample; let us be +satisfied with it. And now please tell me, what did this prototype of the +Sphegidae hunt? Was its diet varied or uniform? If we cannot decide, let us +examine the two cases. + +The diet was varied. I heartily congratulate the first born of the Sphex- +wasps. She enjoyed the most favourable conditions for leaving a prosperous +offspring. Accommodating herself to any kind of prey not disproportionate +to her strength, she avoided the dearth of a given species of game at this +or that time and in this or that place; she always found the wherewithal to +endow her family magnificently, they being, for that matter, fairly +indifferent to the nature of the victuals, provided that these consisted of +fresh insect-flesh, as the tastes of their cousins many times removed prove +to this day. This matriarch of the Sphex clan bore within herself the best +chances of assuring victory to her offspring in that pitiless fight for +existence which eliminates the weakly and incapable and allows none but the +strong and industrious to survive; she possessed an aptitude of great value +which atavism could not fail to hand down and which her descendants, who +are greatly interested in preserving this magnificent inheritance, must +have permanently adopted and even accentuated from one generation to the +next, from one branch, one offshoot, to another. + +Instead of this unscrupulously omnivorous race, levying booty upon every +kind of game, to its very great advantage, what do we see to-day? Each +Sphex is stupidly limited to an unvarying diet; she hunts only one kind of +prey, though her larva accepts them all. One will have nothing but the +Ephippiger and must have a female at that; another will have nothing but +the Cricket. This one hunts the Locust and nothing else; that one the +Mantis and the Empusa. Yet another is addicted to the Grey Worm and another +to the Looper. + +Fools! How great was your mistake in allowing the wise eclecticism of your +ancestress, whose relics now repose in the hard mud of some lacustrian +stratum, to become obsolete! How much better would things be for you and +yours! Abundance is assured; painful and often fruitless searches are +avoided; the larder is crammed without being subject to the accidents of +time, place and climate. When Ephippigers run short, you fall back upon +Crickets; when there are no Crickets, you capture Grasshoppers. But no, my +beautiful Sphex-wasps, you were not such fools as that. If in our days you +are each confined to a standing family-dish, it is because your ancestress +of the lacustrian schists never taught you variety. + +Could she have taught you uniformity? Let us suppose that the Sphex of +antiquity, a novice in the gastronomic art, prepared her potted meats with +a single kind of game, no matter what. It was then her descendants who, +subdivided into groups and constituted into so many distinct species by the +slow travail of the centuries, realized that in addition to the ancestral +fare there existed a host of other foods. Tradition being abandoned, there +was nothing to guide their choice. They therefore tried a bit of everything +in the way of insect game, at hap-hazard; and each time the larva, whose +tastes alone had to be consulted, was satisfied with the food supplied, as +it is to-day in the refectory provisioned by my care. + +Every attempt led to the invention of a new dish, an important event, +according to the masters, an inestimable resource for the family, who were +thereby delivered from the menace of death and enabled to thrive over large +areas whence the absence or rarity of a uniform game would have excluded +it. And, after making use of a host of different viands in order to attain +the culinary variety which is to-day adopted by the whole of the Sphex +nation, lo and behold, each species confines itself to a single sort of +game, outside which every specimen is obstinately refused, not at table, of +course, but in the hunting-field! By your experiments, from age to age, to +have discovered variety in diet; to have practised it, to the great +advantage of your race, and to end up with uniformity, the cause of +decadence; to have known the excellent and to repudiate it for the +middling: oh, my Sphex-wasps, it would be stupid if the theory of evolution +were correct! + +To avoid insulting you and also from respect for common sense, I prefer +therefore to believe that, if in our days you confine your hunting to a +single kind of game, it is because you have never known any other. I prefer +to believe that your common ancestress, your precursor, whether her tastes +were simple or complex, is a pure chimera, for, if they were any +relationship between you, having tested everything in order to arrive at +the actual food of each species, having eaten everything and found it +grateful to the stomach, you would now, from first to last, be unprejudiced +consumers, omnivorous progressives. I prefer to believe, in short, that the +theory of evolution is powerless to explain your diet. This is the +conclusion drawn from the dining-room installed in my old sardine-box. + + +CHAPTER 9. RATIONING ACCORDING TO SEX. + +Considered in respect of quality, the food has just disclosed our profound +ignorance of the origins of instinct. Success falls to the blusterers, to +the imperturbable dogmatists, from whom anything is accepted if only they +make a little noise. Let us discard this bad habit and admit that really, +if we go to the bottom of things, we know nothing about anything. +Scientifically speaking, nature is a riddle to which human curiosity finds +no definite solution. Hypothesis follows hypothesis; the theoretical +rubbish-heap grows bigger and bigger; and still truth escapes us. To know +how to know nothing might well be the last word of wisdom. + +Considered in respect of quantity, the food sets us other problems, no less +obscure. Those of us who devote ourselves assiduously to studying the +customs of the game-hunting Wasps soon find our attention arrested by a +very remarkable fact, at the time when our mind, refusing to be satisfied +with sweeping generalities, which our indolence too readily makes shift +with, seeks to enter as far as possible into the secret of the details, so +curious and sometimes so important, as and when they become better-known to +us. This fact, which has preoccupied me for many a long year, is the +variable quantity of the provisions packed into the burrow as food for the +larva. + +Each species is scrupulously faithful to the diet of its ancestors. For +more than a quarter of a century I have been exploring my district; and I +have never known the diet to vary. To-day, as thirty years ago, each +huntress must have the game which I first saw her pursuing. But, though the +nature of the victuals is constant, the quantity is not so. In this respect +the difference is so great that he would need to be a very superficial +observer who should fail to perceive it on his first examination of the +burrows. In the beginning, this difference, involving two, three, four +times the quantity and more, perplexed me extremely and led me to the +conclusions which I reject to-day. + +Here, among the instances most familiar to me, are some examples of these +variations in the number of victims provided for the larva, victims, of +course, very nearly identical in size. In the larder of the Yellow-winged +Sphex, after the victualling is completed and the house shut up, two or +three Crickets are sometimes found and sometimes four. Stizus ruficornis +(Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 20; also "Bramble-bees and Others": +chapter 9.--Translator's Note.), established in some vein of soft +sandstone, places three Praying Mantes in one cell and five in another. Of +the caskets fashioned by Amedeus' Eumenes (Cf." The Mason-wasps": chapter +1.--Translator's Note.) out of clay and bits of stone, the more richly +endowed contain ten small caterpillars, the more poorly furnished five. The +Sand Cerceris (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 2.--Translator's Note.) +will sometimes provide a ration of eight Weevils and sometimes one of +twelve or even more. My notes abound in abstracts of this kind. It is +unnecessary for the purpose in hand to quote them all. It will serve our +object better if I give the detailed inventory of the Bee-eating Philanthus +and of the Mantis-hunting Tachytes, considered especially with regard to +the quantity of the victuals. + +The slayer of Hive-bees is frequently in my neighbourhood; and I can obtain +from her with the least trouble the greatest number of data. In September I +see the bold filibuster flying from clump to clump of the pink heather +pillaged by the Bee. The bandit suddenly arrives, hovers, makes her choice +and swoops down. The trick is done: the poor worker, with her tongue +lolling from her mouth in the death-struggle, is carried through the air to +the underground den, which is often a very long way from the spot of the +capture. The trickling of earthy refuse, on the bare banks, or on the +slopes of footpaths, instantly reveals the dwellings of the ravisher; and, +as the Philanthus always works in fairly populous colonies, I am able, by +noting the position of the communities, to make sure of fruitful +excavations during the forced inactivity of winter. + +The sapping is a laborious task, for the galleries run to a great depth. +Favier wields the pick and spade; I break the clods which he brings down +and open the cells, whose contents--cocoons and remnants of provisions--I +at once pour into a little screw of paper. Sometimes, when the larva is not +developed, the stack of Bees is intact; more often the victuals have been +consumed; but it is always possible to tell the number of items provided. +The heads, abdomens and thoraxes, emptied of their fleshy substance and +reduced to the tough outer skin, are easily counted. If the larva has +chewed these overmuch, the wings at least are left; these are sapless +organs which the Philanthus absolutely scorns. They are likewise spared by +moisture, putrefaction and time, so much so that it is no more difficult to +take an inventory of a cell several years old than one of a recent cell. +The essential thing is not to overlook any of these tiny relics while +placing them in the paper bag, amid the thousand incidents of the +excavation. The rest of the work will be done in the study, with the aid of +the lens, taking the remains heap by heap; the wings will be separated from +the surrounding refuse and counted in sets of four. The result will give +the amount of the provisions. I do not recommend this task to any one who +is not endowed with a good stock of patience, nor above all to any one who +does not start with the conviction that results of great interest are +compatible with very modest means. + +My inspection covers a total of one hundred and thirty-six cells, which are +divided as in the table below: + + 2 cells each containing 1 Bee + 52 cells each containing 2 Bees + 36 cells each containing 3 Bees + 36 cells each containing 4 Bees + 9 cells each containing 5 Bees + 1 cell containing 6 Bees +--- +136 + +The Mantis-hunting Tachytes consumes its heap of Mantes, the horny envelope +included, without leaving any remains but scanty crumbs, quite insufficient +to establish the number of items provided. After the meal is completed, any +inventory of the rations becomes impossible. I therefore have recourse to +the cells which still contain the egg or the very young larva and, above +all, to those whose provisions have been invaded by a tiny parasitic Gnat, +a Tachina (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 4 and 16.--Translator's +Note.), which drains the game without cutting it up and leaves the whole +skin intact. Twenty-five larders, put to the count, give me the following +result: + + 8 cells each containing 3 items + 5 cells each containing 4 items + 4 cells each containing 6 items + 3 cells each containing 7 items + 2 cells each containing 8 items + 1 cell containing 9 items + 1 cell containing 12 items + 1 cell containing 16 items +--- + 25 + +The predominant game is the Praying Mantis, green; next comes the Grey +Mantis, ash-coloured. A few Empusae make up the total. The specimens vary +in dimensions within fairly elastic limits: I measure some which are a +third to a half inch long, averaging two-thirds to one inch long, and some +which are two-fifths, averaging three quarters. I see pretty plainly that +their number increases in proportion as their size diminishes, as though +the Tachytes were seeking to make up for the smallness of the game by +increasing the amount; none the less I find it quite impossible to detect +the least equivalence by combining the two factors of number and size. If +the huntress really estimates the provisions, she does so very roughly; her +household accounts are not at all well kept; each head of game, large or +small, must always count as one in her eyes. + +Put on my guard, I look to see whether the honey-gathering Bees have a +double service, like the game-hunting Wasps'. I estimate the amount of +honeyed paste; I gauge the cups intended to contain it. In many cases the +result resembles the first obtained: the abundance of provisions varies +from one cell to another. Certain Osmiae (O. cornuta and O. tricornis (Cf. +"Bramble-bees and Others": passim; and, in particular, chapters 3 to 5.-- +Translator's Note.)) feed their larvae on a heap of pollen-dust moistened +in the middle with a very little disgorged honey. One of these heaps may be +three or four times the size of some other in the same group of cells. If I +detach from its pebble the nest of the Mason-bee, the Chalicodoma of the +Walls, I see cells of large capacity, sumptuously provisioned; close beside +these I see others, of less capacity, with victuals parsimoniously +allotted. The fact is general; and it is right that we should ask ourselves +the reason for these marked differences in the relative quantity of +foodstuffs and for these unequal rations. + +I at last began to suspect that this is first and foremost a question of +sex. In many Bees and Wasps, indeed, the male and the female differ not +only in certain details of internal or external structure--a point of view +which does not affect the present problem--but also in length and bulk, +which depend in a high degree on the quantity of food. + +Let us consider in particular the Bee-eating Philanthus. Compared with the +female, the male is a mere abortion. I find that he is only a third to half +the size of the other sex, as far as I can judge by sight alone. To obtain +exactly the respective quantities of substance, I should need delicate +balances, capable of weighing down to a milligramme. My clumsy villager's +scales, on which potatoes may be weighed to within a kilogramme or so, do +not permit of this precision. I must therefore rely on the evidence of my +sight alone, evidence, for that matter, which is amply sufficient in the +present instance. Compared with his mate, the Mantis-hunting Tachytes is +likewise a pigmy. We are quite astonished to see him pestering his giantess +on the threshold of the burrows. + +We observe differences no less pronounced of size--and consequently of +volume, mass and weight--in the two sexes of many Osmiae. The differences +are less emphatic, but are still on the same side, in the Cerceres, the +Stizi, the Spheges, the Chalicodomae and many more. It is therefore the +rule that the male is smaller than the female. There are of course some +exceptions, though not many; and I am far from denying them. I will mention +certain Anthidia where the male is the larger of the two. Nevertheless, in +the great majority of cases the female has the advantage. + +And this is as it should be. It is the mother, the mother alone, who +laboriously digs underground galleries and chambers, kneads the plaster for +coating the cells, builds the dwelling-house of cement and bits of grit, +bores the wood and divides the burrow into storeys, cuts the disks of leaf +which will be joined together to form honey-pots, works up the resin +gathered in drops from the wounds in the pine-trees to build ceilings in +the empty spiral of a Snail-shell, hunts the prey, paralyses it and drags +it indoors, gathers the pollen-dust, prepares the honey in her crop, stores +and mixes the paste. This severe labour, so imperious and so active, in +which the insect's whole life is spent, manifestly demands a bodily +strength which would be quite useless to the male, the amorous trifler. +Thus, as a general rule, in the insects which carry on an industry the +female is the stronger sex. + +Does this pre-eminence imply more abundant provisions during the larval +stage, when the insect is acquiring the physical growth which it will not +exceed in its future development? Simple reflection supplies the answer: +yes, the aggregate growth has its equivalent in the aggregate provisions. +Though so slight a creature as the male Philanthus finds a ration of two +Bees sufficient for his needs, the female, twice or thrice as bulky, will +consume three to six at least. If the male Tachytes requires three Mantes, +his consort's meal will demand a batch of something like ten. With her +comparative corpulence, the female Osmia will need a heap of paste twice or +thrice as great as that of her brother, the male. All this is obvious; the +animal cannot make much out of little. + +Despite this evidence, I was anxious to enquire whether the reality +corresponded with the previsions of the most elementary logic. Instances +are not unknown in which the most sagacious deductions have been found to +disagree with the facts. During the last few years, therefore, I have +profited by my winter leisure to collect, from spots noted as favourable +during the working-season, a few handfuls of cocoons of various Digger- +wasps, notably of the Bee-eating Philanthus, who has just furnished us with +an inventory of provisions. Surrounding these cocoons and thrust against +the wall of the cell were the remnants of the victuals--wings, corselets, +heads, wing-cases--a count of which enabled me to determine how many head +of game had been provided for the larva, now enclosed in its silken abode. +I thus obtained the correct list of provisions for each of the huntress' +cocoons. On the other hand, I estimated the quantities of honey, or rather +I gauged the receptacles, the cells, whose capacity is proportionate to the +mass of the provisions stored. After making these preparations, registering +the cells, cocoons and rations and putting all my figures in order, I had +only to wait for the hatching-season to determine the sex. + +Well, I found that logic and experiment were in perfect agreement. The +Philanthus-cocoons with two Bees gave me males, always males; those with a +larger ration gave me females. From the Tachytes-cocoons with double or +treble that ration I obtained females. When fed upon four or five Nut- +weevils, the Sand Cerceris was a male; when fed upon eight or ten, a +female. In short, abundant provisions and spacious cells yield females; +scanty provisions and narrow cells yield males. This is a law upon which I +may henceforth rely. + +At the stage which we have now reached a question arises, a question of +major importance, touching the most nebulous aspect of embryogeny. How is +it that the larva of the Philanthus, to take a particular case, receives +three to five Bees from its mother when it is to become a female and not +more than two when it is to become a male? Here the various head of game +are identical in size, in flavour, in nutritive properties. The food-value +is precisely in proportion to the number of items supplied, a helpful +detail which eliminates the uncertainties wherein we might be left by the +provision of game of different species and varying sizes. How is it, then, +that a host of Bees and Wasps, of honey-gatherers as well as huntresses, +store a larger or smaller quantity of victuals in their cells according as +the nurselings are to become females or males? + +The provisions are stored before the eggs are laid; and these provisions +are measured by the needs of the sex of an egg still inside the mother's +body. If the egg-laying were to precede the rationing, which occasionally +takes place, as with the Odyneri (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 2 and +8.--Translator's Note.), for example, we might imagine that the gravid +mother enquires into the sex of the egg, recognizes it and stacks victuals +accordingly. But, whether destined to become a male or a female, the egg is +always the same; the differences--and I have no doubt that there are +differences--are in the domain of the infinitely subtle, the mysterious, +imperceptible even to the most practised embryogenist. What can a poor +insect see--in the absolute darkness of its burrow, moreover--where science +armed with optical instruments has not yet succeeded in seeing anything? +And besides, even were it more discerning than we are in these genetic +obscurities, its visual discernment would have nothing whereupon to +practice. As I have said, the egg is laid only when the corresponding +provisions are stored. The meal is prepared before the larva which is to +eat it has come into the world. The supply is generously calculated by the +needs of the coming creature; the dining-room is built large or small to +contain a giant or a dwarf still germinating in the ovarian ducts. The +mother, therefore, knows the sex of her egg beforehand. + +A strange conclusion, which plays havoc with our current notions! The logic +of the facts leads us to it directly. And yet it seems so absurd that, +before accepting it, we seek to escape the predicament by another +absurdity. We wonder whether the quantity of food may not decide the fate +of the egg, originally sexless. Given more food and more room, the egg +would become a female; given less food and less room, it would become a +male. The mother, obeying her instincts, would store more food in this case +and less in that; she would build now a large and now a small cell; and the +future of the egg would be determined by the conditions of food and +shelter. + +Let us make every test, every experiment, down to the absurd: the crude +absurdity of the moment has sometimes proved to be the truth of the morrow. +Besides, the well-known story of the Hive-bee should make us wary of +rejecting paradoxical suppositions. Is it not by increasing the size of the +cell, by modifying the quality and quantity of the food, that the +population of a hive transforms a worker larva into a female or royal +larva? It is true that the sex remains the same, since the workers are only +incompletely developed females. The change is none the less miraculous, so +much so that it is almost lawful to enquire whether the transformation may +not go further, turning a male, that poor abortion, into a sturdy female by +means of a plentiful diet. Let us therefore resort to experiment. + +I have at hand some long bits of reed in the hollow of which an Osmia, the +Three-horned Osmia, has stacked her cells, bounded by earthen partitions. I +have related elsewhere (Cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapters 2 to 5.-- +Translator's Note.) how I obtain as many of these nests as I could wish +for. When the reed is split lengthwise, the cells come into view, together +with their provisions, the egg lying on the paste, or even the budding +larva. Observations multiplied ad nauseam have taught me where to find the +males and where the females in this apiary. The males occupy the fore-part +of the reed, the end next to the opening; the females are at the bottom, +next to the knot which serves as a natural stopper to the channel. For the +rest, the quantity of the provisions in itself points to the sex: for the +females it is twice or thrice as great as for the males. + +In the scantily-provided cells, I double or treble the ration with food +taken from other cells; in the cells which are plentifully supplied, I +reduce the portion to a half or a third. Controls are left: that is to say, +some cells remain untouched, with their provisions as I found them, both in +the part which is abundantly provided and in that which is more meagrely +rationed. The two halves of the reed are then restored to their original +position and firmly bound with a few turns of wire. We shall see, when the +time comes, whether these changes increasing or decreasing the victuals +have determined the sex. + +Here is the result: the cells which at first were sparingly provided, but +whose supplies were doubled or trebled by my artifice, contain males, as +foretold by the original amount of victuals. The surplus which I added has +not completely disappeared, far from it: the larva has had more than it +needed for its evolution as a male; and, being unable to consume the whole +of its copious provisions, it has spun its cocoon in the midst of the +remaining pollen-dust. These males, so richly supplied, are of handsome but +not exaggerated proportions; you can see that the additional food has +profited them to some small extent. + +The cells with abundant provisions, reduced to a half or a third by my +intervention, contain cocoons as small as the male cocoons, pale, +translucent and limp, whereas the normal cocoons are dark-brown, opaque and +firm to the touch. These, we perceive at once, are the work of starved, +anaemic weavers, who, failing to satisfy their appetite and having eaten +the last grain of pollen, have, before dying, done their best with their +poor little drop of silk. Those cocoons which correspond with the smallest +allowance of food contain only a dead and shrivelled larva; others, in +whose case the provisions were less markedly decreased, contain females in +the adult form, but of very diminutive size, comparable with that of the +males, or even smaller. As for the controls which I was careful to leave, +they confirm the fact that I had males in the part near the orifice of the +reed and females in the part near the knot closing the channel. + +Is this enough to dispose of the very improbable supposition that the +determination of the sex depends on the quantity of food? Strictly +speaking, there is still one door open to doubt. It may be said that +experiment, with its artifices, does not succeed in realizing the delicate +natural conditions. To make short work of all objections, I cannot do +better than have recourse to facts in which the experimenter's hand has not +intervened. The parasites will supply us with these facts; they will show +us how alien the quantity and even the quality of the food are from either +specific or sexual characters. The subject of enquiry thus becomes double, +instead of single as it was when I plundered one cell in my split reeds to +enrich another. Let us follow this double current for a little while. + +An Ammophila, the Silky Ammophila (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 13.-- +Translator's Note.), which feeds on Looper caterpillars (Known also as +Measuring-worms, Inchworms, Spanworms and Surveyors: the caterpillars of +the Geometrid Moths.--Translator's Note.), has just been reared in my +refectory on Spiders. Replete to the regulation point, it spins its cocoon. +What will emerge from this? If the reader expects to see any modifications, +caused by a diet which the species, left to itself, had never effected, let +him be undeceived and that quickly. The Ammophila fed on Spiders is +precisely the same as the Ammophila fed on caterpillars, just as man fed on +rice is the same as man fed on wheat. In vain I pass my lens over the +product of my art: I cannot distinguish it from the natural product; and I +defy the most meticulous entomologist to perceive any difference between +the two. It is the same with my other boarders who have had their diet +altered. + +I see the objection coming. The differences may be inappreciable, for my +experiments touch only a first rung of the ladder. What would happen if the +ladder were prolonged, if the offspring of the Ammophila fed on Spiders +were given the same food generation after generation? These differences, at +first imperceptible, might become accentuated until they grew into distinct +specific characters; the habits and instincts might also change; and in the +end the caterpillar-huntress might become a Spider-huntress, with a shape +of her own. A species would be created, for, among the factors at work in +the transformation of animals, the most important of all is incontestably +the type of food, the nature of the thing wherewith the animal builds +itself. All this is much more important than the trivialities which Darwin +relies upon. + +To create a species is magnificent in theory, so that we find ourselves +regretting that the experimenter is not able to continue the attempt. But, +once the Ammophila has flown out of the laboratory to slake her thirst at +the flowers in the neighbourhood, just to try to find her again and induce +her to entrust you with her eggs, which you would rear in the refectory, to +increase the taste for Spiders from generation to generation! Merely to +dream of it were madness. Shall we, in our helplessness, admit ourselves +beaten by the evolutionary effects of diet? Not a bit of it! One +experiment--and you could not wish for a more decisive--is continually in +progress, apart from all artifices, on an enormous scale. It is brought to +our notice by the parasites. + +They must, we are told, have acquired the habit of living on others in +order to save themselves work and to lead an easier life. The poor wretches +have made a sorry blunder. Their life is of the hardest. If a few establish +themselves comfortably, dearth and dire famine await most of the rest. +There are some--look at certain of the Oil-beetles--exposed to so many +chances of destruction that, to save one, they are obliged to procreate a +thousand. They seldom enjoy a free meal. Some stray into the houses of +hosts whose victuals do not suit them; others find only a ration quite +insufficient for their needs; others--and these are very numerous--find +nothing at all. What misadventures, what disappointments do these needy +creatures suffer, unaccustomed as they are to work! Let me relate some of +their misfortunes, gleaned at random. + +The Girdled Dioxys (D. cincta) loves the ample honey-stores of the +Chalicodoma of the Pebbles. There she finds abundant food, so abundant that +she cannot eat it all. I have already passed censure on this waste. (Cf. +"The Mason-bees": chapter 10.--Translator's Note.) Now a little Osmia (O. +cyanoxantha, Perez) makes her nest in the Mason's deserted cells; and this +Bee, a victim of her ill-omened dwelling, also harbours the Dioxys. This is +a manifest error on the parasite's part. The nest of the Chalicodoma, the +hemisphere of mortar on its pebble, is what she is looking for, to confide +her eggs to it. But the nest is now occupied by a stranger, by the Osmia, a +circumstance unknown to the Dioxys, who comes stealing up to lay her egg in +the mother's absence. The dome is familiar to her. She could not know it +better if she had built it herself. Here she was born; here is what her +family wants. Moreover, there is nothing to arouse her suspicions: the +outside of the home has not changed its appearance in any respect; the +stopper of gravel and green putty, which later will form a violent contrast +with its white front, is not yet constructed. She goes in and sees a heap +of honey. To her thinking this can be nothing but the Chalicodoma's +portion. We ourselves would be beguiled, in the Osmia's absence. She lays +her eggs in this deceptive cell. + +Her mistake, which is easy to understand, does not in any way detract from +her great talents as a parasite, but it is a serious matter for the future +larva. The Osmia, in fact, in view of her small dimensions, collects but a +very scanty store of food: a little loaf of pollen and honey, hardly the +size of an average pea. Such a ration is insufficient for the Dioxys. I +have described her as a waster of food when her larva is established, +according to custom, in the cell of the Mason-bee. This description no +longer applies; not in the very least. Inadvertently straying to the +Osmia's table, the larva has no excuse for turning up its nose; it does not +leave part of the food to go bad; it eats up the lot without having had +enough. + +This famine-stricken refectory can give us nothing but an abortion. As a +matter of fact, the Dioxys subjected to this niggardly test does not die, +for the parasite must have a tough constitution to enable it to face the +disastrous hazards which lie in wait for it; but it attains barely half its +ordinary dimensions, which means one-eighth of its normal bulk. To see it +thus diminished, we are surprised at its tenacious vitality, which enables +it to reach the adult form in spite of the extreme deficiency of food. +Meanwhile, this adult is still the Dioxys; there is no change of any kind +in her shape or colouring. Moreover, the two sexes are represented; this +family of pigmies has its males and females. Dearth and the farinaceous +mess in the Osmia's cell has had no more influence over species or sex than +abundance and flowing honey in the Chalicodoma's home. + +The same may be said of the Spotted Sapyga (S. punctata (A parasitic Wasp. +Cf. "The Mason-bees": chapters 9 and 10.--Translator's Note.)), which, a +parasite of the Three-pronged Osmia, a denizen of the bramble, and of the +Golden Osmia, an occupant of empty Snail-shells, strays into the house of +the Tiny Osmia (O. parvula (This bee makes her home in the brambles. Cf. +"Bramble-dwellers and Others": chapters 2 and 3.--Translator's Note.)), +where, for lack of sufficient food, it does not attain half its normal +size. + +A Leucopsis (Cf. "The Mason-bees": chapter 11.--Translator's Note.) inserts +her eggs through the cement wall of our three Chalicodomae. I know her +under two names. When she comes from the Chalicodoma of the Pebbles or +Walls, whose opulent larva saturates her with food, she deserves by her +large size the name of Leucopsis gigas, which Fabricius bestows upon her; +when she comes from the Chalicodoma of the Sheds, she deserves no more than +the name of L. grandis, which is all that Klug grants her. With a smaller +ration "the giant" is to some degree diminished and becomes no more than +"the large." When she comes from the Chalicodoma of the Shrubs, she is +smaller still; and, if some nomenclator were to seek to describe her, she +would no longer deserve to be called more than middling. From dimension 2 +she has descended to dimension 1 without ceasing to be the same insect, +despite the change of diet; and at the same time both sexes are present in +the three nurselings, despite the variation in the quantity of victuals. + +I obtain Anthrax sinuata ("The Mason-bees": chapters 8, 10 and 11.-- +Translator's Note.) from various bees' nests. When she issues from the +cocoons of the Three-horned Osmia, especially the female cocoons, she +attains the greatest development that I know of. When she issues from the +cocoons of the Blue Osmia (O. cyanea, KIRB.), she is sometimes hardly one- +third the length which the other Osmia gives her. And we still have the two +sexes--that goes without saying--and still identically the same species. + +Two Anthidia, working in resin, A. septemdentatum, LATR., and A. +bellicosum, LEP. (For these Resin-bees, cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": +chapter 10.--Translator's Note.), establish their domicile in old Snail- +shells. The second harbours the Burnt Zonitis (Z. proeusta (Cf. "The Glow- +worm and Other Beetles": chapter 6.--Translator's Note.)). Amply nourished +this Meloe then acquires her normal size, the size in which she usually +figures in the collections. A like prosperity awaits her when she usurps +the provisions of Megachile sericans. (For this Bee, the Silky Leaf-cutter, +cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 8.--Translator's Note.) But the +imprudent creature sometimes allows itself to be carried away to the meagre +table of the smallest of our Anthidia (A. scapulare, LATR. (A Cotton-bee, +cf. idem: chapter 9.--Translator's Note.)), who makes her nests in dry +bramble-stems. The scanty fare makes a wretched dwarf of the offspring +belonging to either sex, without depriving them of any of their racial +features. We still see the Burnt Zonitis, with the distinctive sign of the +species: the singed patch at the tip of the wing-cases. + +And the other Meloidae--Cantharides, Cerocomae, Mylabres (For these +Blister-beetles or Oil-beetles, cf. "The Glow-worm and Other Beetles": +chapter 6.--Translator's Note.)--to what inequalities of size are they not +subject, irrespective of sex! There are some--and they are numerous--whose +dimensions fall to a half, a third, a quarter of the regular dimensions. +Among these dwarfs, these misbegotten ones, these victims of atrophy, there +are females as well as males; and their smallness by no means cools their +amorous ardour. These needy creatures, I repeat, have a hard life of it. +Whence do they come, these diminutive Beetles, if not from dining-rooms +insufficiently supplied for their needs? Their parasitical habits expose +them to harsh vicissitudes. No matter: in dearth as well as in abundance +the two sexes appear and the specific features remain unchanged. + +It is unnecessary to linger longer over this subject. The demonstration is +completed. The parasites tell us that changes in the quantity and quality +of food do not lead to any transformation of species. Fed upon the larva of +the Three-horned Osmia or of the Blue Osmia, Anthrax sinuata, whether of +handsome proportions or a dwarf, is still Anthrax sinuata; fed upon the +allowance of the Anthidium of the empty Snail-shells, the Anthidium of the +brambles, the Megachile or doubtless many others, the Burnt Zonitis is +still the Burnt Zonitis. Yet variation of diet ought to be a very potential +factor in the problem of progress towards another form. Is not the world of +living creatures ruled by the stomach? And the value of this factor is +unity, changing nothing in the product. + +The same parasites tell us--and this is the chief object of my digression-- +that excess or deficiency of nutriment does not determine the sex. So we +are once more confronted with the strange proposition, which is now more +positive than ever, that the insect which amasses provisions in proportion +to the needs of the egg about to be laid knows beforehand what the sex of +this egg will be. Perhaps the reality is even more paradoxical still. I +shall return to the subject after discussing the Osmiae, who are very +weighty witnesses in this grave affair. (Cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": +chapters 3 to 5. The student is recommended to read these three chapters in +conjunction with the present chapter, to which they form a sequel, with +that on the Osmiae (chapter 2 of the above volume) intervening.-- +Translator's Note.) + + +CHAPTER 10. THE BEE-EATING PHILANTHUS. + +To meet among the Wasps, those eager lovers of flowers, a species that goes +hunting more or less on its own account is certainly a notable event. That +the larder of the grub should be provided with prey is natural enough; but +that the provider, whose diet is honey, should herself make use of the +captives is anything but easy to understand. We are quite astonished to see +a nectar-drinker become a blood-drinker. But our astonishment ceases if we +consider things more closely. The double method of feeding is more apparent +than real: the crop which fills itself with sugary liquid does not gorge +itself with game. The Odynerus, when digging into the body of her prey, +does not touch the flesh, a fare absolutely scorned as contrary to her +tastes; she satisfies herself with lapping up the defensive drop which the +grub (The Larva of Chrysomela populi, the Poplar Leaf-beetle.--Translator's +Note.) distils at the end of its intestine. This fluid no doubt represents +to her some highly-flavoured beverage with which she seasons from time to +time the staple diet fetched from the drinking-bar of the flowers, some +appetizing condiment or perhaps--who knows?--some substitute for honey. +Though the qualities of the delicacy escape me, I at least perceive that +the Odynerus does not covet anything else. Once its jar is emptied, the +larva is flung aside as worthless offal, a certain sign of a non- +carnivorous appetite. Under these conditions, the persecutor of the +Chrysomela ceases to surprise us by indulging in the crying abuse of a +double diet. + +We even begin to wonder whether other species may not be inclined to derive +a direct advantage from the hunting imposed upon them for the maintenance +of the family. The Odynerus' method of work, the splitting open of the anal +still-room, is too far removed from the obvious procedure to have many +imitators; it is a secondary detail and impracticable with a different kind +of game. But there is sure to be a certain variety in the direct means of +utilizing the capture. Why, for instance, when the victim paralysed by the +sting contains a delicious broth in some part of its stomach, should the +huntress scruple to violate her dying prey and force it to disgorge without +injuring the quality of the provisions? There must be those who rob the +dead, attracted not by the flesh but by the exquisite contents of the crop. + +In point of fact, there are; and they are even numerous. We may mention in +the first rank the Wasp that hunts Hive-bees, the Bee-eating Philanthus (P. +apivorus, LATR.). I long suspected her of perpetrating these acts of +brigandage on her own behalf, having often surprised her gluttonously +licking the Bee's honey-smeared mouth; I had an inkling that she did not +always hunt solely for the benefit of her larvae. The suspicion deserved to +be confirmed by experiment. Also, I was engaged in another investigation, +which might easily be conducted simultaneously with the one suggested: I +wanted to study, with all the leisure of work done at home, the operating- +methods employed by the different Hunting Wasps. I therefore made use, for +the Philanthus, of the process of experimenting under glass which I roughly +outlined when speaking of the Odynerus. It was even the Bee-huntress who +gave me my first data in this direction. She responded to my wishes with +such zeal that I believed myself to possess an unequalled means of +observing again and again, even to excess, what is so difficult to achieve +on the actual spot. Alas, the first-fruits of my acquaintance with the +Philanthus promised me more than the future held in store for me! But we +will not anticipate; and we will place the huntress and her game together +under the bell-glass. I recommend this experiment to whoever would wish to +see with what perfection in the art of attack and defence a Hunting Wasp +wields the stiletto. There is no uncertainty here as to the result, there +is no long wait: the moment when she catches sight of the prey in an +attitude favourable to her designs, the bandit rushes forward and kills. I +will describe how things happen. + +I place under the bell-glass a Philanthus and two or three Hive-bees. The +prisoners climb the glass wall, towards the light; they go up, come down +again and try to get out; the vertical polished surface is to them a +practicable floor. They soon quiet down; and the spoiler begins to notice +her surroundings. The antennae are pointed forwards, enquiringly; the hind- +legs are drawn up with a little quiver of greed in the tarsi; the head +turns to right and left and follows the evolutions of the Bees against the +glass. The miscreant's posture now becomes a striking piece of acting: you +can read in it the fierce longings of the creature lying in ambush, the +crafty waiting for the moment to commit the crime. The choice is made: the +Philanthus pounces on her prey. + +Turn by turn tumbling over and tumbled, the two insects roll upon the +ground. The tumult soon abates; and the murderess prepares to strangle her +capture. I see her adopt two methods. In the first, which is more usual +than the other, the Bee is lying on her back; and the Philanthus, belly to +belly with her, grips her with her six legs while snapping at her neck with +her mandibles. The abdomen is now curved forward from behind, along the +prostrate victim, feels with its tip, gropes about a little and ends by +reaching the under part of the neck. The sting enters, lingers for a moment +in the wound; and all is over. Without releasing her prey, which is still +tightly clasped, the murderess restores her abdomen to its normal position +and keeps it pressed against the Bee's. + +In the second method, the Philanthus operates standing. Resting on her +hind-legs and on the tips of her unfurled wings, she proudly occupies an +erect attitude, with the Bee held facing her between her four front legs. +To give the poor thing a position suited to receive the dagger-stroke, she +turns her round and back again with the rough clumsiness of a child +handling its doll. Her pose is magnificent to look at. Solidly planted on +her sustaining tripod, the two hinder tarsi and the tips of the wings, she +at last crooks her abdomen upwards and again stings the Bee under the chin. +The originality of the Philanthus' posture at the moment of the murder +surpasses the anything that I have hitherto seen. + +The desire for knowledge in natural history has its cruel side. To learn +precisely the point attacked by the sting and to make myself thoroughly +acquainted with the horrible talent of the murderess, I have investigated +more assassinations under glass than I would dare to confess. Without a +single exception, I have always seen the Bee stung in the throat. In the +preparations for the final blow, the tip of the abdomen may well come to +rest on this or that point of the thorax or abdomen; but it does not stop +at any of these, nor is the sting unsheathed, as can readily be +ascertained. Indeed, once the contest is opened, the Philanthus becomes so +entirely absorbed in her operation that I can remove the cover and follow +every vicissitude of the tragedy with my pocket-lens. + +After recognizing the invariable position of the wound, I bend back and +open the articulation of the head. I see under the Bee's chin a white spot, +measuring hardly a twenty-fifth of an inch square, where the horny +integuments are lacking and the delicate skin is shown uncovered. It is +here, always here, in this tiny defect in the armour, that the sting +enters. Why is this spot stabbed rather than another? Can it be the only +vulnerable point, which would necessarily determine the thrust of the +lancet? Should any one entertain so petty a thought, I advise him to open +the articulation of the corselet, behind the first pair of legs. He will +there see what I see: the bare skin, quite as fine as under the neck, but +covering a much larger surface. The horny breast-plate offers no wider +breach. If the Philanthus were guided in her operation solely by the +question of vulnerability, it is here certainly that she ought to strike, +instead of persistently seeking the narrow slit in the neck. The weapon +would not need to hesitate and grope; it would obtain admission into the +tissues off-hand. No, the stroke of the lancet is not forced upon it +mechanically: the assassin scorns the large defect in the corselet and +prefers the place under the chin, for eminently logical reasons which we +will now attempt to unravel. + +Immediately after the operation I take the Bee from the Philanthus. What +strikes me is the sudden inertia of the antennae and the mouth-parts, +organs which in the victims of most of the Hunting Wasps continue to move +for so long a time. There are here not any of the signs of life to which I +have been accustomed in my old studies of insect paralysis: the antennary +threads waving slowly to and fro, the palpi quivering, the mandibles +opening and closing for days, weeks and months on end. At most, the tarsi +tremble for a minute or two; that constitutes the whole death-struggle. +Complete immobility ensues. The inference drawn from this sudden inertia is +inevitable: the Wasp has stabbed the cervical ganglia. Hence the immediate +cessation of movement in all the organs of the head; hence the real instead +of the apparent death of the Bee. The Philanthus is a butcher and not a +paralyser. + +This is one step gained. The murderess chooses the under part of the chin +as the point attacked in order to strike the principal nerve-centres, the +cephalic ganglia, and thus to do away with life at one blow. When this +vital seat is poisoned by the toxin, death is instantaneous. Had the +Philanthus' object been simply to effect paralysis, the suppression of +locomotor movements, she would have driven her weapon into the flaw in the +corselet, as the Cerceres do with the Weevils, who are much more powerfully +armoured than the Bee. But her intention is to kill outright, as we shall +see presently; she wants a corpse, not a paralytic patient. This being so, +we must agree that her operating-method is supremely well-inspired: our +human murderers could achieve nothing more thorough or immediate. + +We must also agree that her attitude when attacking, an attitude very +different from that of the paralysers, is infallible in its death-dealing +efficacy. Whether she deliver her thrust lying on the ground or standing +erect, she holds the Bee in front of her, breast to breast, head to head. +In this posture all that she need do is to curve her abdomen in order to +reach the gap in the neck and plunge the sting with an upward slant into +her captive's head. Suppose the two insects to be gripping each other in +the reverse attitude, imagine the dirk to slant slightly in the opposite +direction; the results would be absolutely different and the sting, driven +downwards, would pierce the first thoracic ganglion and produce merely +partial paralysis. What skill, to sacrifice a wretched Bee! In what +fencing-school was the slayer taught her terrible upward blow under the +chin? + +If she learnt it, how is it that her victim, such a past mistress in +architecture, such an adept in socialistic polity, has so far learnt no +corresponding trick to serve in her own defence? She is as powerful as her +executioner; like the other, she carries a rapier, an even more formidable +one and more painful, at least to my fingers. For centuries and centuries +the Philanthus has been storing her away in her cellars; and the poor +innocent meekly submits, without being taught by the annual extermination +of her race how to deliver herself from the aggressor by a well-aimed +thrust. I despair of ever understanding how the assailant has acquired her +talent for inflicting sudden death, when the assailed, who is better-armed +and quite as strong, wields her dagger anyhow and therefore ineffectively. +If the one has learnt by prolonged practice in attack, the other should +also have learnt by prolonged practice in defence, for attack and defence +possess a like merit in the fight for life. Among the theorists of the day, +is there one clear-sighted enough to solve the riddle for us? + +If so, I will take the opportunity of putting to him a second problem that +puzzles me: the carelessness, nay, more, the stupidity of the Bee in the +presence of the Philanthus. You would be inclined to think that the victim +of persecution, learning gradually from the misfortunes suffered by her +family, would show distress at the ravisher's approach and at least attempt +to escape. In my cages I see nothing of the sort. Once the first excitement +due to incarceration under the bell-glass or the wire-gauze cover has +passed, the Bee seems hardly to trouble about her formidable neighbour. I +see one side by side with the Philanthus on the same honeyed thistle-head: +assassin and future victim are drinking from the same flask. I see some one +who comes heedlessly to enquire who that stranger can be, crouching in wait +on the table. When the spoiler makes her rush, it is usually at a Bee who +meets her half-way, and, so to speak, flings herself into her clutches, +either thoughtlessly or out of curiosity. There is no wild terror, no sign +of anxiety, no tendency to make off. How comes it that the experience of +the ages, that experience which, we are told, teaches the animal so many +things, has not taught the Bee the first element of apiarian wisdom: a +deep-seated horror of the Philanthus? Can the poor wretch take comfort by +relying on her trusty dagger? But she yields to none in her ignorance of +fencing; she stabs without method, at random. However, let us watch her at +the supreme moment of the killing. + +When the ravisher makes play with her sting, the Bee does the same with +hers and furiously. I see the needle now moving this way or that way in +space, now slipping, violently curved, along the murderess' convex surface. +These sword-thrusts have no serious results. The manner in which the two +combatants are at grips has this effect, that the Philanthus' abdomen is +inside and the Bee's outside. The latter's sting therefore finds under its +point only the dorsal surface of the foe, a convex, slippery surface and so +well armoured as to be almost invulnerable. There is here no breach into +which the weapon can slip by accident; and so the operation is conducted +with absolute surgical safety, notwithstanding the indignant protests of +the patient. + +After the fatal stroke has been administered, the murderess remains for a +long time belly to belly with the dead, for reasons which we shall shortly +perceive. There may now be some danger for the Philanthus. The attitude of +attack and defence is abandoned; and the ventral surface, more vulnerable +than the other, is within reach of the sting. Now the deceased still +retains the reflex use of her weapon for a few minutes, as I learnt to my +cost. Having taken the Bee too early from the bandit and handling her +without suspecting any risk, I received a most downright sting. Then how +does the Philanthus, in her long contact with the butchered Bee, manage to +protect herself against that lancet, which is bent upon avenging the +murder? Is there any chance of a commutation of the death-penalty? Can an +accident ever happen in the Bee's favour? Perhaps. + +One incident strengthens my faith in this perhaps. I had placed four Bees +and as many Eristales under the bell-glass at the same time, with the +object of estimating the Philanthus' entomological knowledge in the matter +of the distinction of species. Reciprocal quarrels break out in the mixed +colony. Suddenly, in the midst of the fray, the killer is killed. She +tumbles over on her back, she waves her legs; she is dead. Who struck the +blow? It was certainly not the excitable but pacific Drone-fly; it was one +of the Bees, who struck home by accident during the thick of the fight. +Where and how? I cannot tell. The incident occurs only once in my notes, +but it throws a light upon the question. The Bee is capable of withstanding +her adversary; she can then and there slay her would-be slayer with a +thrust of the sting. That she does not defend herself to better purpose, +when she falls into her enemy's clutches, is due to her ignorance of +fencing and not to the weakness of her weapon. And here again arises, more +insistently than before, the question which I asked above: how is it that +the Philanthus has learnt for offensive what the Bee has not learnt for +defensive purposes? I see but one answer to the difficulty: the one knows +without having learnt; the other does not know because she is incapable of +learning. + +Let us now consider the motives that induce the Philanthus to kill her Bee +instead of paralysing her. When the crime has been perpetrated, she +manipulates her dead victim without letting go of it for a moment, holding +its belly pressed against her own six legs. I see her recklessly, very +recklessly, rooting with her mandibles in the articulation of the neck, +sometimes also in the larger articulation of the corselet, behind the first +pair of legs, an articulation of whose delicate membrane she is perfectly +well aware, even though, when using her sting, she did not take advantage +of this point, which is the most readily accessible of all. I see her +rough-handling the Bee's belly, squeezing it against her own abdomen, +crushing it in the press. The recklessness of the treatment is striking; it +shows that there is no need for keeping up precautions. The Bee is a +corpse; and a little hustling here and there will not deteriorate its +quality, provided there be no effusion of blood. In point of fact, however +rough the handling, I fail to discover the slightest wound. + +These various manipulations, especially the squeezing of the neck, at once +bring about the desired results: the honey in the crop mounts to the Bee's +throat. I see the tiny drops spurt out, lapped up by the glutton as soon as +they appear. The bandit greedily, over and over again, takes the dead +insect's lolling, sugared tongue into her mouth; then she once more digs +into the neck and thorax, subjecting the honey-bag to the renewed pressure +of her abdomen. The syrup comes and is instantly lapped up and lapped up +again. In this way the contents of the crop are exhausted in small +mouthfuls, yielded one at a time. This odious meal at the expense of a +corpse's stomach is taken in a sybaritic attitude; the Philanthus lies on +her side with the Bee between her legs. The atrocious banquet sometimes +lasts for half an hour or longer. At last the drained Bee is discarded, not +without regret, it seems, for from time to time I see the manipulation +renewed. After taking a turn round the top of the bell-jar, the robber of +the dead returns to her prey and squeezes it, licking its mouth until the +last trace of honey has disappeared. + +This frenzied passion of the Philanthus for the Bee's syrup is declared in +yet another fashion. When the first victim has been sucked dry, I slip +under the glass a second victim, which is promptly stabbed under the chin +and then subjected to pressure to extract the honey. A third follows and +undergoes the same fate without satisfying the bandit. I offer a fourth and +a fifth. They are all accepted. My notes mention one Philanthus who in +front of my eyes sacrificed six Bees in succession and squeezed out their +crops in the regulation manner. The slaughter came to an end not because +the glutton was sated but because my functions as a purveyor were becoming +rather difficult: the dry month of August causes the insects to avoid my +harmas, which at this season is denuded of flowers. Six crops emptied of +their honey: what an orgy! And even then the ravenous creature would very +likely not have scorned a copious additional course, had I possessed the +means of supplying it! + +There is no reason to regret this break in the service; the little that I +have said is more than enough to prove the singular characteristics of the +Bee-slayer. I am far from denying that the Philanthus has an honest means +of earning her livelihood; I find her working on the flowers as assiduously +as the other Wasps, peacefully drawing her honeyed beakers. The males even, +possessing no lancet, know no other manner of refreshment. The mothers, +without neglecting the table d'hote of the flowers, support themselves by +brigandage as well. We are told of the Skua, that pirate of the seas, that +he swoops down upon the fishing birds, at the moment when they rise from +the water with a capture. With a blow of the beak delivered in the pit of +the stomach he makes them give up their prey, which is caught by the robber +in mid-air. The despoiled bird at least gets off with nothing worse than a +contusion at the base of the throat. The Philanthus, a less scrupulous +pirate, pounces on the Bee, stabs her to death and makes her disgorge in +order to feed upon her honey. + +I say feed and I do not withdraw the word. To support my statement I have +better reasons than those set forth above. In the cages in which various +Hunting Wasps, whose stratagems of war I am engaged in studying, are +waiting till I have procured the desired prey--not always an easy thing--I +have planted a few flower-spikes, a thistle-head or two, on which are +placed drops of honey renewed at need. Here my captives come to take their +meals. With the Philanthus, the provision of honeyed flowers, though +favourably received, is not indispensable. I have only to let a few live +Bees into her cage from time to time. Half a dozen a day is about the +proper allowance. With no other food than the syrup extracted from the +slain, I keep my insects going for a fortnight or three weeks. + +It is as plain as a pikestaff: outside my cages, when the opportunity +offers, the Philanthus must also kill the Bee on her own account. The +Odynerus asks nothing from the Chrysomela but a mere condiment, the +aromatic juice of the rump; the other extracts from her victim an ample +supplement to her victuals, the crop full of honey. What a hecatomb of Bees +must not a colony of these freebooters make for their personal consumption, +not to mention the stored provisions! I recommend the Philanthus to the +signal vengeance of our Bee-masters. + +Let us go no deeper into the first causes of the crime. Let us accept +things as we know them for the moment, with their apparent or real +atrocity. To feed herself, the Philanthus levies tribute on the Bee's crop. +Having made sure of this, let us consider the bandit's method more closely. +She does not paralyse her capture according to the rites customary among +the Hunting Wasps; she kills it. Why kill it? If the eyes of our +understanding be not closed, the need for sudden death is clear as +daylight. The Philanthus proposes to obtain the honeyed broth without +ripping up the Bee, a proceeding which would damage the game when it is +hunted on behalf of the larvae, without resorting to the murderous +extirpation of the crop. She must, by able handling, by skilful pressure, +make the Bee disgorge, she must milk her, in a manner of speaking. Suppose +the Bee stung behind the corselet and paralysed. That deprives her of her +power of locomotion, but not of her vitality. The digestive organs in +particular retain or very nearly retain their normal energy, as is proved +by the frequent excretions that take place in the paralysed prey, so long +as the intestine is not empty, as is proved above all by the victims of the +Languedocian Sphex (Cf. "The Hunting Wasp": chapters 8 to 10.--Translator's +Note.), those helpless creatures which I used to keep alive for forty days +on end with a soup consisting of sugar and water. It is absurd to hope, +without therapeutic means, without a special emetic, to coax a sound +stomach into emptying its contents. The stomach of the Bee, who is jealous +of her treasure, would lend itself to the process even less readily than +another. When paralysed, the insect is inert; but there are always internal +energies and organic forces which will not yield to the manipulator's +pressure. The Philanthus will nibble at the throat and squeeze the sides in +vain: the honey will not rise to the mouth so long as a vestige of life +keeps the crop closed. + +Things are different with a corpse. The tension is relaxed, the muscles +become slack, the resistance of the stomach ceases and the bag of honey is +emptied by the robber's vigorous pressure. You see, therefore, that the +Philanthus is expressly obliged to inflict a sudden death, which will do +away at once with the elasticity of the organs. Where is the lightning +stroke to be delivered? The slayer knows better than we do, when she sticks +the Bee under the chin. The cerebral ganglia are reached through the little +hole in the neck and death ensues immediately. + +The relation of these acts of brigandage cannot satisfy my distressing +habit of following each reply obtained with a fresh question, until the +granite wall of the unknowable rises before me. If the Philanthus is an +expert in killing Bees and emptying crops swollen with honey, this cannot +be merely an alimentary resource, especially when, in common with the +others, she has the banqueting-hall of the flowers. I cannot accept her +atrocious talent as inspired merely by the craving for a feast obtained at +the expense of an empty stomach. Something certainly escapes us: the why +and wherefore of that crop drained dry. A creditable motive may lie hidden +behind the horrors which I have related. What is it? + +Any one can understand the vagueness of the observer's mind when he first +asks himself this question. The reader is entitled to be treated with +consideration. I will spare him the recital of my suspicions, my gropings +and my failures and will come straight to the results of my long +investigation. Everything has its harmonious reason for existence. I am too +fully persuaded of this to believe that the Philanthus pursues her habit of +profaning corpses solely to satisfy her greed. What does the emptied crop +portend? May it not be that..? Why, yes...After all, who knows?...Let us +try along these lines. + +The mother's first care is the welfare of the family. So far, we have seen +the Philanthus hunting only for her stomach's sake; let us watch her +hunting as a mother. Nothing is easier than to distinguish the two +performances. When the Wasp wants a few good mouthfuls and nothing more, +she scornfully abandons the Bee after picking her crop. The Bee is to her a +worthless remnant, which will shrivel where it lies and be dissected by the +Ants. If, on the other hand, she wants to stow away the Bee as a provision +for her larvae, she clasps her in her two intermediate legs and, walking on +the other four, goes round and round the edge of the bell-glass, seeking +for an outlet through which to fly off with her prey. When she recognizes +the circular track as impossible, she climbs up the sides, this time +holding the Bee by the antennae with her mandibles and clinging to the +polished and perpendicular surface with her six feet. She reaches the top +of the glass, stays for a little while in the hollow of the knob at the +top, returns to the ground, resumes her circling and her climbing and does +not decide to relinquish her Bee until she has stubbornly attempted every +means of escape. This persistence on her part to retain her hold on the +cumbrous burden tells us pretty plainly that the game would go straight to +the cells if the Philanthus had her liberty. + +Well, these Bees intended for the larvae are stung under the chin like the +others; they are real corpses; they are manipulated, squeezed, drained of +their honey exactly as the others are. In all these respects, there is no +difference between the hunt conducted to provide food for the larvae and +the hunt conducted merely to gratify the mother's appetite. + +As the worries of captivity might well be the cause of a few anomalies in +the insect's actions, I felt that I ought to enquire how things happen in +the open. I lay in wait near some colonies of Philanthi, for longer perhaps +than the question deserved, as it had already been settled by what had +happened under glass. My tedious watches were rewarded from time to time. +Most of the huntresses returned home immediately, with the Bee under their +abdomen; some halted on the brambles hard by; and here I saw them squeezing +the dead Bee and making her disgorge the honey, which was greedily lapped +up. After these preliminaries the corpse was stored. Every doubt is +therefore removed: the provisions of the larva are first carefully drained +of their honey. + +Since we are on the spot, let us prolong our stay and enquire into the +customs of the Philanthus in a state of liberty. Serving dead prey, which +goes bad in a few days, the Bee-huntress cannot adopt the method of certain +insects which paralyse a number of separate heads of game and fill the cell +with provisions, completing the ration before laying the egg. She needs the +method of the Bembex, whose larva receives the necessary nourishment at +intervals, as it grows larger. The facts confirm this deduction. Just now I +described as tedious my watches near the colonies of the Philanthi. They +were tedious in fact, even more so perhaps than those which the Bembeces +used to inflict upon me in the old days. Outside the burrows of the Great +Cerceris and other Weevil-lovers, outside those of the Yellow-winged Sphex, +the Cricket-slayer, there is plenty of distraction, thanks to the bustling +movement of the hamlet. The mother has hardly come back home before she +goes out again, soon returning laden with a new prey and once more setting +out upon the chase. The going and coming is repeated at close intervals +until the warehouse is full. + +The burrow of the Philanthus is far from showing any such animation, even +in a populous colony. In vain were my watches prolonged for whole mornings +or afternoons; it was but very rarely that the mother whom I had seen go in +with a Bee came out again for a second expedition. Two captures at most by +the same huntress was all that I was able to see during my long vigils. +Feeding from day to day involves this deliberation. Once the family is +supplied with a sufficient ration for the moment, the mother suspends her +hunting-trips until further need arises and occupies herself with mining- +work in her underground house. Cells are dug; I see the rubbish gradually +pushed up to the surface. Beyond this there is not a sign of activity; it +is as though the burrow were deserted. + +The inspection of the site is no easy matter. The shaft descends to a depth +of nearly three feet in a compact soil, either vertically or horizontally. +The spade and pick, wielded by stronger but less expert hands than mine, +are indispensable, for which reason the process of excavation is far from +satisfying me fully. At the end of this long tunnel, which the straw which +I use for sounding despairs of ever reaching, the cells are at last +encountered, oval cavities with a horizontal major axis. Their number and +general arrangement escape me. + +Some of them already contain the cocoon, which is slender and +semitransparent, like those of the Cerceris, and, like them, suggests the +shape of certain homoeopathic phials, with oval bellies surmounted by a +tapering neck. The cocoon is fastened to the end of the cell by the tip of +this neck, which is darkened and hardened by the larva's excrement; it has +no other support. It looks like a short club fixed by the end of the handle +along the horizontal axis of the nest. Other cells contain the larva in a +more or less advanced stage. The grub is munching the last morsel served to +it, with the scraps of the victuals already consumed lying around it. +Others lastly show me a Bee, one only, still untouched and bearing an egg +laid on her breast. This is the first partial ration; the others will come +as and when the grub grows larger. My anticipations are thus confirmed: +following the example of the Bembeces, the Fly-killers, the Philanthus, the +Bee-killer, lays her egg on the first piece warehoused and at intervals +adds to her nurselings' repast. + +The problem of the dead game is solved. There remains this other problem, +one of incomparable interest: why are the Bees robbed of their honey before +being served to the larvae? I have said and I say again that the killing +and squeezing cannot be explained and excused simply by reference to the +Philanthus' love of gormandizing. Robbing the worker of her booty is +nothing out of the way: we see it daily; but cutting her throat in order to +empty her stomach is going beyond a joke. And, as the Bees packed away in +the cellar are squeezed dry just as much as the others, the thought occurs +to my mind that a rumpsteak with jam is not to everybody's liking and that +the game stuffed with honey might well be a distasteful or even unwholesome +dish for the Philanthus' larvae. What will the grub do when, sated with +blood and meat, it finds the Bee's honey-bag under its mandibles and +especially when, nibbling at random, it rips open the crop and spoils its +venison with syrup? Will it thrive on the mixture? Will the little ogre +pass without repugnance from the gamy flavour of a carcase to the scent of +flowers? A blunt statement or denial would serve no purpose. We must see. +Let us see. + +I rear some young Philanthus-grubs, already waxing large; but, instead of +supplying them with the prey taken from the burrows, I give them game of my +own catching, game replete with nectar from the rosemaries. My Bees, whom I +kill by crushing their heads, are readily accepted; and I at first see +nothing that corresponds with my suspicions. Then my nurselings languish, +disdain their food, give a careless bite here and there and end by +perishing, from the first to the last, beside their unfinished victuals. +All my attempts miscarry: I do not once succeed in rearing my larvae to the +stage of spinning the cocoon. And yet I am no novice in the functions of a +foster-father. How many pupils have not passed through my hands and reached +maturity in my old sardine-boxes as comfortably as in their natural +burrows! + +I will not draw rash conclusions from this check; I am conscientious enough +to ascribe it to another cause. It may be that the atmosphere of my study +and the dryness of the sand serving as a bed have had a bad effect on my +charges, whose tender skins are accustomed to the warm moisture of the +subsoil. Let us therefore try another expedient. + +It is hardly feasible to decide positively by the methods which I have been +following whether the honey is or is not repugnant to the grubs of the +Philanthus. The first mouthfuls consist of meat; and then nothing +particular occurs: it is the natural diet. The honey is met with later, +when the morsel has been largely bitten into. If hesitation and lack of +appetite are displayed at this stage, they come too late in the day to be +conclusive: the larva's discomfort may be due to other, known or unknown, +causes. The thing to do would be to offer the grub honey from the first, +before artificial rearing has affected its appetite. It is useless, of +course, to make the attempt with pure honey: no carnivorous creature would +touch it, though it were starving. The jam-sandwich is the only device +favourable to my plans, a meagre jam-sandwich, that is to say, the dead Bee +lightly smeared or varnished with honey by means of a camel's-hair pencil. + +Under these conditions, the problem is solved with the first few mouthfuls. +The grub that has bitten into the honeyed prey draws back in disgust, +hesitates a long time and then, urged by hunger, begins again, tries this +side and that and ends by refusing to touch the dish. For a few days it +pines away on top of its almost intact provisions; then it dies. All that +are subjected to this regimen succumb. Do they merely perish of inanition +in the presence of an unaccustomed food, which revolts their appetite, or +are they poisoned by the small quantity of honey absorbed with the early +mouthfuls? I cannot tell. The fact remains that, whether poisonous or +repugnant, the Bee in the state of bread and jam is death to them; and this +result explains, more clearly than the unfavourable circumstance of my +former experiment, my failures with the Bee that had not been made to +disgorge. + +This refusal to touch the unwholesome or distasteful honey is connected +with principles of nutrition which are too general to constitute a +gastronomic peculiarity of the Philanthus. The other carnivorous larvae, at +least in the order of the Hymenoptera, are bound to share it. Let us try. +We will go to work as before. I unearth the larvae when they have attained +a medium size, to avoid the weakness of infancy; I take away the natural +provisions, smear the carcases separately with honey and, when this is +done, restore its victuals to each of the grubs. I had to make a choice: +not every subject was equally suited to my experiments. I must reject the +larvae which are fed on one fat joint, such as those of the Scolia. The +grub in fact attacks its prey at a determined point, dips its head and neck +into the insect's body, rooting skilfully in the entrails to keep the game +fresh until the end of the meal, and does not withdraw from the breach +until the whole skin is emptied of its contents. + +To make it let go with the object of coating the inside of the venison with +honey had two drawbacks: I should be compromising the lingering vitality +which saves the insect that is being devoured from going bad and, at the +same time, I should be disturbing the delicate art of the devouring insect, +which, if removed from the lode which it was working, would no longer be +able to recover it or to distinguish between the lawful and the unlawful +morsels. The larva of the Scolia, consuming its Cetonia-grub, has taught us +all that we want to know on this subject in my earlier volume. (Chapters 2 +to 5 of the present volume contain the whole of the matter referred to +above.--Translator's Note.) The only acceptable larvae are those supplied +with a heap of small insects, which are attacked without any special art, +dismembered at random and eaten up quickly. Among these I have tested such +as chance threw in my way: those of various Bembeces, all fed on Flies, +those of the Palarus, whose bill of fare consists of a very large +assortment of Hymenoptera; those of the Tarsal Tachytes, supplied with +young Locusts; those of the Nest-building Odynerus, furnished with +Chrysomela-grubs; those of the Sand Cerceris, endowed with a pinch of +Weevils. A goodly variety, as you see, of consumers and consumed. Well, to +all of these the seasoning with honey proved fatal. Whether poisoned or +disgusted, they all died in a few days. + +A strange result indeed! Honey, the nectar of the flowers, the sole diet of +the Bee-tribe in both its forms and the sole resource of the Wasp in her a +adult form, is to the larvae of the latter an object of insurmountable +repugnance and probably a toxic dish. Even the transformation of the +nymphosis surprises me less than this inversion of the appetite. What +happens in the insect's stomach to make the adult seek passionately what +the youngster refused lest it should die? This is not a question of organic +debility unable to endure a too substantial, too hard, too highly spiced +dish. The grub that gnaws the Cetonia-larva, that generous piece of +butcher's meat; the glutton that crunches its batch of tough Locusts; the +one that battens on nitrobenzine-flavoured game: they certainly own +unfastidious gullets and accommodating stomachs. And these robust eaters +allow themselves to die of hunger or digestive troubles because of a drop +of syrup, the lightest food imaginable, suited to the weakness of extreme +youth and a feast for the adult besides! What a gulf of obscurity in the +stomach of a wretched grub! + +These gastronomical researches called for a counterexperiment. The +carnivorous larva is killed by honey. Conversely, is the mellivorous larva +killed by animal food? Reservations are needful here, as in the previous +tests. We should be courting a flat refusal if we offered a pinch of +Locusts to the larvae of the Anthophora or the Osmia, for instance. (For +both these Wild Bees cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": passim.--Translator's +Note.) The honey-fed insect would not bite into it. There would be no use +whatever in trying. We must find the equivalent of the jam-sandwich +aforesaid; in other words, we must give the larva its natural fare with a +mixture of animal food. The addition made by my artifices shall be albumen, +as found in the egg of the Hen, albumen the isomer of fibrin, which is the +essential factor in any form of prey. + +On the other hand, the Three-horned Osmia lends herself most admirably to +my plans, because of her dry honey, consisting for the greater part of +floury pollen. I therefore knead this honey with albumen, graduating the +dose until its weight largely exceeds that of the flour. In this way I +obtain pastes of different degrees of consistency, but all firm enough to +bear the larva without danger of immersion. With too fluid a mixture there +would be a risk of death by drowning. Lastly I install a moderately- +developed larva on each of my albuminous cakes. + +The dish of my inventing does not incite dislike: far from it. The grubs +attack it without hesitation and consume it with every appearance of the +usual appetite. Things could not go better if the food had not been altered +by my culinary recipes. Everything goes down, including the morsels in +which I feared that I had overdone the addition of albumen. And--an even +more important point--the Osmia-larvae fed in this manner attain their +normal dimensions and spin their cocoons, from which adult insects issue in +the following year. Notwithstanding the albuminous regimen, the cycle of +the evolution is achieved without impediment. + +What are we to conclude from all this? I feel greatly embarrassed. Omne +vivum ex ovo, the physiologists tell us. Every animal is carnivorous, in +its first beginnings: it is formed and nourished at the cost of its egg, in +which albumen predominates. The highest, the mammal, adheres to this diet +for a long time: it has its mother's milk, rich in casein, another isomer +of albumen. The gramnivorous nestling is first fed on grubs, which are +better adapted to the niceties of its stomach; many of the minutest new- +born creatures, being at once left to their own devices, take to animal +food. In this way the original method of nourishment is continued for all +alike: the method which allows flesh to be made from flesh and blood from +blood, with no chemical process beyond the simplest modification. At +maturity, when the stomach has acquired its full strength, vegetable food +is adopted, involving a more complicated chemistry but easier to obtain. +Milk is followed by fodder, worms by seeds, the prey in the burrow by the +nectar of the flowers. + +This supplies a partial explanation of the twofold diet of the Hymenoptera +with carnivorous larvae: meat first, honey next. But then the note of +interrogation is shifted. It stood elsewhere; it now stands here. Why is +the Osmia, who as a larva fares so well on albumen, fed on honey at the +start? Why do the Bee-tribe receive a vegetable diet when the other members +of the order receive an animal diet? + +If I were a believer in evolution, I should say yes, by the fact of its +germ, every animal is originally carnivorous. The insect in particular +starts with albuminoid materials. Many larvae adhere to the egg-food, many +adult insects do likewise. But the struggle to fill the belly, which after +all is the struggle for life, demands something better than the precarious +hazards of the chase. Man, at first a ravenous hunter after game, brought +the flock into existence and turned shepherd to avoid a time of dearth. An +even greater progress inspired him to scrape the earth and to sow seed, +which assures him of a living. The evolution from scarcity to moderation +and from moderation to plenty has led to the resources of husbandry. + +The animals forestalled us this path of progress. The ancestors of the +Philanthus, in the remote ages of the lacustrian tertiary formations, lived +by prey in both the larval and the adult forms: they hunted for themselves +as well as for the family. They did not confine themselves to emptying the +Bee's crop, as their descendants do to this day: they devoured the +deceased. From the beginning to the end they remained flesh-eaters. Later, +fortunate innovators, whose race supplanted the laggards, discovered an +inexhaustible nourishment, obtained without dangerous conflicts or +laborious search: the sugary secretions of the flowers. The costly habit of +living on prey, which does not favour large populations, was maintained for +the feeble larvae; but the vigorous adult broke herself of it to lead an +easier and more prosperous life. Thus, gradually, was formed the Philanthus +of our day; thus was acquired the twofold diet of the various predatory +insects our contemporaries. + +The Bee has done better still: from the moment of leaving the egg she +delivered herself completely from food-stuffs the acquisition of which +depended on chance. She discovered honey, the grubs' food. Renouncing the +chase for ever and becoming an agriculturalist pure and simple, the insect +attains a degree of physical and moral prosperity which the predatory +species are far from sharing. Hence the flourishing colonies of the +Anthophorae, the Osmiae, the Eucerae (A genus of long-horned Burrowing +Bees.--Translator's Note.), the Halicti and other honey-manufacturers, +whereas the predatory insects work in isolation; hence the societies in +which the Bee displays her wonderful tendencies, the supreme expression of +instinct. + +This is what I should say if I belonged to that school. It all forms a +chain of very logical deductions and proffers itself with a certain air of +likelihood which we should be glad to find in a host of evolutionist +arguments put forward as irrefutable. Well, I will make a present of my +deductive views, without regret, to whoever cares to have them: I don't +believe one word of them; and I confess my profound ignorance of the origin +of the twofold diet. + +What I do understand more clearly, after all these investigations, is the +tactics of the Philanthus. When witnessing her ferocious feasting, the real +reason of which was unknown to me, I heaped the most ill-sounding epithets +upon her, calling her a murderess, a bandit, a pirate, a robber of the +dead. Ignorance is always evil-tongued; the man who does not know indulges +in rude assertions and mischievous interpretations. Now that my eyes have +been opened to the facts, I hasten to apologize and to restore the +Philanthus to her place in my esteem. In draining the crops of her Bees the +mother is performing the most praiseworthy of all actions: she is +protecting her family against poison. If she happens to kill on her own +account and to abandon the corpse after making it disgorge, I dare not +reckon this against her as a crime. When the habit has been formed of +emptying the Bee's crop with a good motive, there is a great temptation to +do it again with no other excuse than hunger. Besides, who knows? Perhaps +there is always at the back of her hunting some thought of game which might +be useful for the larvae. Although not carried into effect, the intention +excuses the deed. + +I therefore withdraw my epithets in order to admire the insect's maternal +logic and to hold it up to the admiration of others. The honey would be +pernicious to the health of the larvae. How does the mother know that the +syrup, a treat for her, is unwholesome for her young? To this question our +science offers no reply. The honey, I say, would imperil the grubs' lives, +The Bee must therefore first be made to disgorge. The disgorging must be +effected without lacerating the victim, which the nurseling must receive in +the fresh state; and the operation is impracticable on a paralysed insect +because of the resistance of the stomach. The Bee must therefore be killed +outright instead of being paralysed, or the honey will not be voided. +Instantaneous death can be inflicted only by wounding the primordial centre +of life. The sting must therefore aim at the cervical ganglia, the seat of +innervation on which the rest of the organism depends. To reach them there +is only one way, through the little gap in the throat. It is here therefore +that the sting must be inserted; and it is here in fact that it is +inserted, in a spot hardly as large as the twenty-fifth of an inch square. +Suppress a single link of this compact chain, and the Bee-fed Philanthus +becomes impossible. + +That honey is fatal to carnivorous larvae is a fact which teems with +consequences. Several Hunting Wasps feed their families upon Bees. These +include, to my knowledge, the Crowned Philanthus (P. coronatus, FAB.), who +lines her burrows with big Halicti; the Robber Philanthus (P. raptor, +LEP.), who chases all the smaller-sized Halicti, suited to her own +dimensions, indifferently; the Ornate Cerceris (C. ornata, FAB.), another +passionate lover of Halicti; and the Palarus (P. flavipes, FAB.), who, with +a curious eclecticism, stacks in her cells the greater part of the +Hymenopteron clan that does not exceed her powers. What do these four +huntresses and the others of similar habits do with their victims whose +crops are more or less swollen with honey? They must follow the example of +the Bee-eating Philanthus and make them disgorge, lest their family perish +of a honeyed diet; they must manipulate the dead Bee, squeeze her and drain +her dry. Everything goes to show it. I leave it to the future to display +these dazzling proofs of my doctrine in their proper light. + + +CHAPTER 11. THE METHOD OF THE AMMOPHILAE. (For these Sand-wasps, cf. "The +Hunting Wasps": chapters 13 and 18 to 20.--Translator's Note.) + +My readers may differ in appraising the comparative value of the trifling +discoveries which entomology owes to my labours. The geologist, the +recorder of forms, will prefer the hypermetamorphosis of the Oil-beetles +(The chapter treating of this subject has not yet been translated into +English and will appear in a later volume.--Translator's Note.), the +development of the Anthrax (Cf. "The Life of the Fly": chapter 2.-- +Translator's Note.) or larval dimorphism; the embryogenist, searching into +the mysteries of the egg, will have some esteem for my enquiries into the +egg-laying habits of the Osmia (Cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 4.-- +Translator's Note.) ; the philosopher, racking his brain over the nature of +instinct, will award the palm to the operations of the Hunting Wasps. I +agree with the philosopher. Without hesitation, I would abandon all the +rest of my entomological baggage for this discovery, which happens to be +the earliest in date and that of which I have the fondest memories. Nowhere +do I find a more brilliant, more lucid, more eloquent proof of the +intuitive wisdom of instinct; nowhere does the theory of evolution suffer a +more obstinate check. + +Darwin, a true judge, made no mistake about it. (Charles Robert Darwin, +born the 12th of February, 1809, at Shrewsbury, died at Down, in Kent, on +the 19th of April, 1882. For an account of certain experiments which the +author conducted on his behalf, cf. "The Mason-bees": chapter 4.-- +Translator's Note.) He greatly dreaded the problem of the instincts. My +first results in particular left him very anxious. If he had known the +tactics of the Hairy Ammophila, the Mantis-hunting Tachytes, the Bee-eating +Philanthus, the Calicurgi and other marauders, his anxiety, I believe, +would have ended in a frank admission that he was unable to squeeze +instinct into the mould of his formula. Alas, the philosopher of Down +quitted this world when the discussion, with experiments to support it, had +barely begun: a method superior to any argument! The little that I had +published at that time left him with still some hope of an explanation. In +his eyes, instinct was always an acquired habit. The predatory Wasps killed +their prey at first by stabbing it at random, here and there, in the +softest parts. By degrees they found the spot where the sting was most +effectual; and the habit once formed became a true instinct. Transitions +from one method of operation to the other, intermediary changes, sufficed +to bolster up these sweeping assertions. In a letter of the 16th of April, +1881, he asks G.J. Romanes to consider the problem: + +"I do not know," he says "whether you will discuss in your book on the mind +of animals any of the more complex and wonderful instincts. It is +unsatisfactory work, as there can be no fossilised instincts, 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 described by Fabre in his wonderful +paper in the "Anales des sciences naturelles," and since amplified in his +admirable "Souvenirs..." + +I thank you, O illustrious master, for your eulogistic expressions, proving +the keen interest which you took in my studies of instinct, no ungrateful +task--far from it--when we tackle it as it should be tackled: from the +front, with the aid of facts, and not from the flank, with the aid of +arguments. Arguments are here out of place, if we wish to maintain our +position in the light. Besides, where would they lead us? To evoking the +instincts of bygone ages, which have not been preserved by fossilization? +Any such appeal to the dim and distant past is quite unnecessary, if we +wish for variations of instinct, leading by degrees, according to you, from +one instinct to another; the present world offers us plenty. + +Each operator has her particular method, her particular kind of game, her +particular points of attack and tricks of fence; but in the midst of this +variety of talents we observe, immutable and predominant, the perfect +accordance of the surgery with the victim's organization and the larva's +needs. The art of one will not explain the art of another, no less exact in +the delicacy of its rules. Each operator has her own tactics, which +tolerate no apprenticeship. The Ammophila, the Scolia, the Philanthus and +the others all tell us the same thing: none can leave descendants if she be +not from the outset the skilful paralyser or slayer that she is to-day. The +"almost" is impracticable when the future of the race is at stake. What +would have become of the first-born mammal but for its perfect instinct of +suckling? + +And then, to suppose the impossible: a Wasp discovers by chance the +operative method which will be the saving attribute of her race. How are we +to admit that this fortuitous act, to which the mother has vouchsafed no +more attention than to her other less fortunate attempts, could leave a +profound trace behind it and be faithfully transmitted by heredity? Is it +not going beyond reason, going beyond the little that is known to us as +certain, if we grant to atavism this strange power, of which our present +world knows no instance? There is a good deal to be said for this point of +view, my revered master! But, once more, arguments are here out of place; +there is room only for facts, of which I will resume the recital. + +Hitherto I had but one means of studying the operative methods of the +spoilers: to surprise the Wasp in possession of her capture, to rob her of +her prey and immediately to give her in exchange a similar prey, but a +living one. This method of substitution is an excellent expedient. Its only +defect--a very grave one--is that it subjects observation to very uncertain +chances. There is little prospect of meeting the insect dragging its victim +along; and, in the second place, should good fortune suddenly smile upon +you, preoccupied as you are with other matters you have not the substitute +at hand. If we provide ourselves with the necessary head of game in +advance, the huntress is not there. We avoid one reef to founder on +another. Moreover, these unlooked for observations, made sometimes on the +public highway, the worst of laboratories, are only half-satisfactory. In +the case of swiftly-enacted scenes, which it is not in our power to renew +again and again until perfect conviction is reached, we always fear lest we +may not have seen accurately, may not have seen everything. + +A method which could be controlled at will would offer the best guarantees, +above all if employed at home, under comfortable conditions, favourable to +precision. I wished, therefore, to see my insects at work on the actual +table at which I am writing their history. Here very few of their secrets +would escape me. This wish of mine was an old one. As a beginner, I made +some experiments under glass with the Great Cerceris (C. tuberculata) and +the Yellow-winged Sphex. Neither of them responded to my desires. The +refusal of each to attack respectively her Cleonus or her Cricket +discouraged further progress in this direction. I was wrong to abandon my +attempts so soon. Now, very long afterwards, the idea occurs to me to place +under glass the Bee-eating Philanthus, whom I sometimes surprise in the +open engaged in forcing a bee to disgorge her honey. The captive massacres +her bees in such a spirited fashion that the old hope revives stronger than +ever. I contemplate reviewing all the wielders of the stiletto and forcing +each to reveal her tactics. + +I was obliged to abate these ambitions considerably. I had some successes +and many more failures. I will tell you of the former. My insect-cage is a +spacious dome of wire-gauze resting on a bed of sand. Here I keep in +reserve the captives of my hunting-expeditions. I feed them on honey, +placed in little drops on spikes of lavender, on heads of thistle, or field +eryngo, or globe-thistle, according to the season. Most of my prisoners do +well on this diet and seem scarcely affected by their internment; others +pine away and die in two or three days. These victims of despair nearly +always throw me back, because of the difficulty of obtaining the necessary +prey at short notice. + +Indeed it entails no small trouble to secure in the nick of time the game +demanded by the huntress who has recently fallen a captive to my net. As +assistant-purveyors I have a few small schoolboys, who, released from the +tedium of their declensions and conjugations, set out, on leaving the +classroom, to inspect the greenswards and beat the bushes in the +neighbourhood on my behalf. The gros sou, the penny-piece, if you please, +stimulates their zeal; but with misadventurous results! What I need to-day +is Crickets. The band sallies forth and returns with not a single Cricket, +but numbers of Ephippigers, for which I asked the day before yesterday and +which I no longer need, my Languedocian Sphex being dead. General surprise +at this sudden change of market. My young scatterbrains find it hard to +understand that the beast which was so precious two days ago is now of no +value whatever. When, owing to the chances of my net, a renewed demand for +the Ephippiger sets in, then they will bring me the Cricket, the despised +Cricket. + +Such a trade could never hold out if now and again my speculators were not +encouraged by some success. At the moment when urgent necessity is sending +up prices, one of them brings me a magnificent Gad-fly intended for the +Bembex. For two hours, when the sun was at its height, he kept watch on the +threshing-floor hard by, waiting for the blood-sucker, in order to catch +him on the buttocks of the Mules which trot round and round trampling the +corn. This gallant fellow shall have his gros sou and a slice of bread and +jam as well. A second, no less fortunate, has found a fat Spider, the +Epeira, for whom my Pompili are waiting. To the two sous of this fortunate +youth I add a little picture for his missal. Thus are my purveyors kept +going; and, after all, their help would be very inadequate if I did not +take upon myself the main burden of these wearisome quests. + +Once in possession of the requisite prey, I transfer the huntress from my +warehouse, the wire-gauze cage, to a bell-glass varying in capacity from +one to three or four litres (1 3/4 to 5 or 7 pints.--Translator's Note.), +according to the size and habits of the combatants; I place the victim in +the arena; I expose the bell-glass to the direct rays of the sun, without +which condition the executioner as a rule declines to operate; I arm myself +with patience and await events. + +We will begin with the Hairy Ammophila, my neighbour. Year after year, when +April comes, I see her in considerable numbers, very busy on the paths in +my enclosure. Until June I see her digging her burrows and searching for +the Grey Worm, to be placed in the meat-cellar. Her tactics are the most +complex that I know and more than any other deserves to be thoroughly +studied. To capture the cunning vivisector, to release her and catch her +again I find an easy matter for the best part of a month; she works outside +my door. + +I have still to obtain the Grey Worm. This means a repetition of the +disappointments which I had before, when, to find a caterpillar, I was +obliged to watch the Ammophila while hunting and to be guided by her hints, +as the truffle-hunter is guided by the scent of his Dog. A patient +exploration of the harmas, one tuft of thyme after another, does not give +me a single worm. My rivals in this search are finding their game at every +moment; I cannot find it even once. Yet one more reason for bowing to the +superiority of the insect in the management of her affairs. My band of +schoolboys get to work in the surrounding fields. Nothing, always nothing! +I in my turn explore the outer world; and for ten days the pursuit of a +caterpillar torments me till I lose my power of sleep. Then, at last, +victory! At the foot of a sunny wall, under the budding rosettes of the +panicled centaury, I find a fair supply of the precious Grey Worm or its +equivalent. + +Behold the worm and the Ammophila face to face beneath the bell-glass. +Usually the attack is prompt enough. The caterpillar is grabbed by the neck +with the mandibles, wide, curved pincers capable of embracing the greater +part of the living cylinder. The creature thus seized twists and turns and +sometimes, with a blow of its tail, sends the assailant rolling to a +distance. The latter is unconcerned and thrusts her sting thrice in rapid +succession into the thorax, beginning with the third segment and ending +with the first, where the weapon is driven home with greater determination +than elsewhere. + +The caterpillar is then released. The Ammophila stamps on the ground; with +her quivering tarsi she taps the cardboard on which the bell-glass stands; +she lies down flat, drags herself along, gets up again, flattens herself +once more. The wings jerk convulsively. From time to time the insect places +its mandibles and forehead on the ground, then rears high upon its hind- +legs as though to turn head over heels. In all this I see a manifestation +of delight. We rub our hands when rejoicing at a success; the Ammophila is +celebrating her triumph over the monster in her own fashion. During this +fit of delirious joy, what is the wounded caterpillar doing? It can no +longer walk; but all the part behind the thorax struggles violently, +curling and uncurling when the Ammophila sets a foot upon it. The mandibles +open and shut menacingly. + +SECOND ACT.--When the operation is resumed, the caterpillar is seized by +the back. From front to rear, in order, all the segments are stung on the +ventral surface, except the three operated on. All serious danger is +averted by the stabs of the first act; therefore, the Wasp is now able to +work upon her patient without the haste displayed at the outset. +Deliberately and methodically she drives in her lancet, withdraws it, +selects the spot, stabs it and begins again, passing from segment to +segment, taking care, each time, to lay hold of the back a little more to +the rear, in order to bring the segment to be paralysed within reach of the +needle. For the second time, the caterpillar is released. It is absolutely +inert, except the mandibles, which are still capable of biting. + +THIRD ACT.--The Ammophila clasps the paralysed victim between her legs; +with the hooks of her mandibles she seizes the back of its neck, at the +base of the first thoracic segment. For nearly ten minutes she munches this +weak spot, which lies close to the cerebral nerve-centres. The pincers +squeeze suddenly but at intervals and methodically, as though the +manipulator wished each time to judge of the effect produced; the squeezes +are repeated until I am tired of trying to count them. When they cease, the +caterpillar's mandibles are motionless. Then comes the transportation of +the carcase, a detail which is not relevant in this place. + +I have set forth the complete tragedy, as it is fairly often enacted, but +not always. The insect is not a machine, unvarying in the effect of its +mechanism; it is allowed a certain latitude, enabling it to cope with the +eventualities of the moment. Any one expecting to see the incidents of the +struggle unfolding themselves exactly as I have described will risk +disappointment. Special instances occur--they are even numerous--which are +more or less at variance with the general rule. It will be well to mention +the more important, in order to put future observers on their guard. + +Not infrequently the first act, that of paralysing the thorax, is +restricted to two thrusts of the sting instead of three, or even to one, +which is then delivered in the foremost segment. This, it would seem, from +the persistency with which the Ammophila inflicts it, is the most important +prick of all. Is it unreasonable to suppose that the operator, when she +begins by pricking the thorax, intends to subdue her capture and to make it +incapable of injuring her, or even of disturbing her when the moment comes +for the delicate and protracted surgery of the second act? This idea seems +to me highly admissible; and then, instead of three dagger-thrusts, why not +two only, why not merely one, if this would suffice for the time being? The +amount of vigour displayed by the caterpillar must be taken into +consideration. Be this as it may, the segments spared in the first act are +stabbed in the second. I have sometimes even seen the three thoracic +segments stung twice over: at the beginning of the attack and again when +the Wasp returned to her vanquished prey. + +The Ammophila's triumphant transports beside her wounded and writhing +victim are also subject to exceptions. Sometimes, without releasing its +prey for a moment, the insect proceeds from the thorax to the next segments +and completes its operation in a single spell. The joyous entr'acte does +not take place; the convulsive movements of the wings and the acrobatic +postures are suppressed. + +The rule is paralysis of all the segments, however many, in regular order +from front to back, including even the anal segment if this boast of legs. +By a fairly frequent exception the last two or three segments are spared. +Another exception, but a very rare one, of which I have observed only a +single instance, consists in the inversion of the dagger-thrusts of the +second act, the thrusts being delivered from back to front. The caterpillar +is then seized by its hinder extremity; and the Ammophila, progressing +towards the head, stings in reverse order, passing from the succeeding to +the preceding segment, including the thorax already stabbed. This reversal +of the usual tactics I am inclined to attribute to negligence on the +insect's part. Negligence or not, the inverted method has the same final +result as the direct method: the paralysis of all the segments. + +Lastly, the compression of the neck by the mandibulary pincers, the +munching of the weak spot between the base of the skull and the first +segment of the thorax, is sometimes practised and sometimes neglected. If +the caterpillar's jaws open and threaten, the Ammophila stills them by +biting the neck; if they are already growing quiescent, she refrains. +Without being indispensable, this operation is useful at the moment of +carting the prey. The caterpillar, too heavy to be carried on the wing, is +dragged, head first, between the Ammophila's legs. If the mandibles are +working, the least clumsiness may render them dangerous to the carrier, who +is exposed to their bite without any means of defence. + +Moreover, once on the way, thickets of grass are traversed in which the +Grey Worm can seize a blade and offer a desperate resistance to the +traction. Nor is this all. The Ammophila does not as a rule trouble about +her burrow, or at least does not complete it, until she has caught her +caterpillar. During the mining-operations, the game is laid somewhere high +up, out of reach of the Ants, on some tuft of grass, or the twigs of a +shrub, whither the huntress, from time to time, stopping her well-sinking, +hastens to see if her quarry is still there. For her this is a means of +refreshing her memory of the spot where she has laid it, often at some +distance from the burrow, and of preventing attempts at robbery. When the +moment comes for removing the game from its hiding-place, the difficulty +would be insurmountable were the worm, gripping the shrub with all the +might of its jaws, to anchor itself there. Hence inertia of the powerful +hooks, which are the paralysed creature's sole means of resistance, becomes +essential during the carting. The Ammophila obtains it by compressing the +cerebral ganglia, by munching the neck. The inertia is temporary; it wears +off sooner or later; but by this time the carcase is in the cell and the +egg, prudently laid at a distance on the ventral surface of the worm, has +nothing to fear from the caterpillar's grapnels. No comparison is +permissible between the methodical squeezes of the Ammophila benumbing the +cephalic nerve-centres and the brutal manipulations of the Philanthus +emptying the crop of her Bee. The huntress of Grey Worms induces a +temporary torpor of the mandibles; the ravisher of Bees makes them eject +their honey. No one gifted with the least perspicacity will confound the +two operations. + +For the moment we will not dwell any longer on the method of the Hairy +Ammophila; we will see instead how her kinswomen behave. After protracted +refusals the Sandy Ammophila (A. sabulosa, FAB.),on whom I experimented in +September, ended by accepting the proffered prey, a powerful caterpillar as +thick as a lead-pencil. The surgical method did not differ from that +employed by the Hairy Ammophila when operating on her Grey Worm in one +spell. All the segments, excepting the last three, were stung from front to +back, beginning with the prothorax. This single success with a simplified +method left me in ignorance of the accessory manoeuvres, which I do not +doubt must more or less closely recall those of the preceding species. + +I am all the more inclined to accept these secondary manoeuvres, not as yet +recorded--the transports of triumph and the compressions of the neck-- +inasmuch as I see them practised upon the Looper caterpillars, which differ +so greatly from the others in external structure, exactly as I have +described them in the case of the Grey Worm, which is of the ordinary form. +Two species, the Silky Ammophila (A. holoserica, FAB.) and Jules' Ammophila +(See in the first volume of the "Souvenirs entomologiques" what I mean by +this denomination.--Author's Note.), affect this curious prey, which moves +with the stride of a pair of compasses. The first, often renewed under +glass during the greater part of August, has always refused my offers; the +second, her contemporary, has, on the contrary, promptly accepted them. + +I present Jules' Ammophila with a slender, brownish Looper which I caught +on the jasmine. The attack is not slow in coming. The caterpillar is +grabbed by the neck: lively contortions of the victim, which rolls the +aggressor over and drags her along, now uppermost, now undermost in the +struggle. First the thorax is stung, in its three rings, from back to +front. The sting lingers longest near the throat, in the first segment. +This done, the Ammophila releases her victim and proceeds to stamp her +tarsi, to polish her wings, to stretch herself. Again I observe the +acrobatic postures, the forehead touching the ground, the hinder part of +the body raised. This mimic triumph is the same as that of the huntress of +the Grey Worm. Then the Looper is once more seized. Despite its +contortions, which are not in the least abated by the three wounds in the +thorax, it is stung from front to back in each segment still unwounded, no +matter how many, whether supplied with legs or not. I expected to see the +sting refrain more or less in the long interval which separates the true +legs in front from the pro-legs at the back (Fleshy legs found on the +abdominal segments of caterpillars and certain other larvae.--Translator's +Note.): segments devoid of organs of defence or locomotion did not seem to +me to deserve conscientious surgery. I was mistaken: not a segment of the +Looper is spared, not even the last ones. It is true that these, being +eminently capable of catching hold with their false legs, would be +dangerous later were the Wasp to neglect them. + +I observe, however, that the lancet works more rapidly in the second part +of the operation than in the first, either because the caterpillar, half +subjugated by the triple wound at the outset, is easier to reach with the +sting, or because the segments more remote from the head are rendered +harmless with a smaller injection of poison. Nowhere do we see repeated the +care expended upon paralysing the thorax, still less the insistent +attention to the first segment. On returning to her Looper after the +entr'acte devoted to the joys of success, the Ammophila stabs so swiftly +that, on one occasion, I saw her obliged to begin all over again. Lightly +stung along its whole length, the victim still struggles. Without +hesitation, the operator unsheathes her scalpel for the second time and +operates on the Looper afresh, with the exception of the thorax, which was +already sufficiently anaesthetized. This done, all is in order; there is no +more movement. + +After the stiletto the hooks of the mandibles rarely fail to intervene. +Long and curved, they nibble at the paralysed victim's neck, sometimes from +above, sometimes from below. It is a repetition of what the Hairy Ammophila +showed us: the same sudden squeezes of the pincers, with rather long +intervals between. These intervals, these measured bites and the insect's +watchful attitude have every appearance of telling us that the operator is +noting the effect produced before giving a fresh pinch of the nippers. + +It will be seen how valuable is the evidence of Jules' Ammophila: it tells +us that the immolaters of Looper caterpillars and those of ordinary +caterpillars follow precisely the same method; that victims displaying very +dissimilar external structure do not entail any modification of the +operative tactics so long as the internal organization remains the same. +The number, arrangement and degree of mutual independence of the nerve- +centres guide the sting; the anatomy of the game, rather than its form, +controls the huntress' tactics. + +Let me mention, before I dismiss the subject, a superb example of this +marvellous anatomical discrimination. I once took from between the legs of +a Hairy Ammophila, which had just paralysed it, a caterpillar of Dicranura +vinula. What a strange capture compared with the ordinary caterpillar! +Bridling in thick folds beneath its pink neckerchief, its fore-part raised +in a sphinx-like attitude, its hinder-part slowly waving two long caudal +threads, the curious animal is no caterpillar to the schoolboy who brings +it to me, nor to the man who comes upon it while cutting his bundle of +osiers; but it is a caterpillar to the Ammophila, who treats it +accordingly. I explore the queer creature's segments with the point of a +needle. All are insensitive; all therefore have been stung. + + +CHAPTER 12. THE METHOD OF THE SCOLIAE. + +After the Ammophilae, the paralysers who multiply their lancet-thrusts to +destroy the influence of the various nerve-centres, excepting those of the +head, it seemed advisable to interrogate other insects which also are +accustomed to a naked prey, vulnerable at all points save the head, but +which deliver only a single thrust of the sting. Of these two conditions +the Scoliae fulfilled one, with their regular quarry, the tender Cetonia-, +Oryctes-or Anoxia-larva, according to the Scolia's species. Did they fulfil +the second? I was convinced beforehand that they did. From the anatomy of +the victims, with their concentrated nervous system, I foresaw, when +compiling my history of the Scoliae, that the sting would be unsheathed +once only; I even mentioned the exact spot into which the weapon would be +plunged. + +These were assertions dictated by the anatomist's scalpel, without the +slightest direct proof derived from observed facts. Manoeuvres executed +underground escaped the eye, as it seemed to me that they must always do. +How indeed could I hope that a creature whose art is practised in the +darkness of a heap of mould would decide to work in broad daylight? I did +not reckon upon it all. Nevertheless, to salve my conscience, I tried +bringing the Scolia into contact with her prey under the bell-glass. I was +well-advised to do so, for my success was in inverse ratio to my hopes. +Next to the Philanthus, none of the Hunting Wasps displayed such ardour in +attacking under artificial conditions. All the insects experimented upon, +some sooner, some later, rewarded me for my patience. Let us watch the Two- +banded Scolia (S. bifasciata, VAN DER LIND) operating on her Cetonia grub. + +The incarcerated larva strives to escape its terrible neighbour. Lying on +its back, it fiercely wends its way round and round the glass circus. +Presently the Scolia's attention awakens and is betrayed by a continued +tapping with the tips of the antennae upon the table, which now represents +the accustomed soil. The Wasp attacks the game, delivering her assault upon +the monster's hinder end. She climbs upon the Cetonia-grub, obtaining a +purchase with the tip of her abdomen. The quarry merely travels the more +quickly on its back, without coiling itself into a defensive posture. The +Scolia reaches the fore-part, with tumbles and other accidents which vary +greatly with the amount of tolerance displayed by the larva, her improvised +steed. With her mandibles she nips a point of the thorax, on the upper +surface; she places herself athwart the beast, arches herself and makes +every effort to reach with the end of her abdomen the region into which the +sting is to be driven. The arch is a little too narrow to embrace almost +the whole circumference of her corpulent prey; and she renews her attempts +and efforts for a long time. The tip of the belly tries every conceivable +expedient, touching here, there and everywhere, but as yet stopping +nowhere. This persistent search in itself demonstrates the importance which +the paralyser attaches to the point at which her lancet is to penetrate the +flesh. + +Meanwhile, the larva continues to move along on its back. Suddenly it curls +up; with a stroke of its head it hurls the enemy to a distance. +Undiscouraged by all her set-backs, the Wasp picks herself up, brushes her +wings and resumes her attack upon the colossus, almost always by mounting +the larva's hinder end. At last after all these fruitless attempts, the +Scolia succeeds in achieving the correct position. She is seated athwart +the Cetonia-grub; the mandibles grip a point on the dorsal surface of the +thorax; the body, bent into a bow, passes under the larva and with the tip +of the belly reaches the region of the neck. The Cetonia-grub, placed in +serious peril, writhes, coils and uncoils itself, spinning round upon its +axis. The Scolia does not interfere. Holding the victim tightly gripped, +she turns with it, allows herself to be dragged upwards, downwards, +sidewards, following its contortions. Her obstinacy is such that I can now +remove the bell-glass and follow the details of the drama in the open. + +Briefly, in spite of the turmoil, the tip of the abdomen feels that the +right spot has been found. Then and only then the sting is unsheathed. It +plunges in. The thing is done. The larva, at first plump and active, +suddenly becomes flaccid and inert. It is paralysed. Henceforth there are +no movements save of the antennae and the mouthparts, which will for a long +time yet bear witness to a remnant of life. The point wounded has never +varied in the series of combats under glass: it occupies the middle of the +line of demarcation between the prothorax and the mesothorax, on the +ventral surface. Note that the Cerceres, operating on Weevils, whose +nervous system is as compact as the Cetonia-grub's, drive in the needle at +the same spot. Similarity of nervous organization occasions similarity of +method. Note also that the Scolia's sting remains in the wound for some +time and roots about with marked persistence. Judging by the movements of +the tip of the abdomen, one would certainly say that the weapon is +exploring and selecting. Free to shift in one direction or the other, +within narrow limits, its point is most probably seeking for the little +mass of nerve-tissue which must be pricked, or at least sprinkled with +poison, to obtain overwhelming paralysis. + +I will not close this report of the duel without relating a few further +facts, of minor importance. The Two-banded Scolia is a fierce persecutor of +the Cetonia. In one sitting the same mother stabs three larvae, one after +the other, in front of my eyes. She refuses the fourth, perhaps owing to +fatigue or to exhaustion of the poison-bag. Her refusal is only temporary. +Next day, she begins again and paralyses two grubs; the day after that, she +does the same, but with a zeal that decreases from day to day. + +The other Hunting Wasps that pursue the chase far afield grip, drag, carry +their prey, after depriving it of movement, each in her own fashion and, +laden with their burden, make prolonged attempts to escape from the bell- +glass and to gain the burrow. Discouraged by these futile endeavours, they +abandon them at last. The Scolia does not remove her quarry, which lies on +its back for an indefinite time on the actual spot of the sacrifice. When +she has withdrawn her dagger from the wound, she leaves her victim where it +lies and, without taking further notice of it, begins to flutter against +the side of the glass. The paralysed carcase is not transported elsewhere, +into a special cellar; there where the struggle has occurred it receives, +upon its extended abdomen, the egg whence the consumer of the succulent +tit-bit will emerge, thus saving the expense of setting up house. It goes +without saying that under the bell-glass the laying does not take place: +the mother is too cautious to abandon her egg to the perils of the open +air. + +Why then, recognizing the absence of her underground burrow, does the +Scolia uselessly pursue the Cetonia with the frantic ardour of the +Philanthus flinging herself upon the Bee? The action of the Philanthus is +explained by her passion for honey; hence the murders committed in excess +of the needs of her family. The Scolia leaves us perplexed: she takes +nothing from the Cetonia-grub, which is left without an egg; she stabs, +though well aware of the uselessness of her action: the heap of mould is +lacking and it is not her custom to transport her prey. The other +prisoners, once the blow is struck, at least seek to escape with their +capture between their legs; the Scolia attempts nothing. + +After due reflection, I lump together in my suspicions all these surgeons +and ask myself whether they possess the slightest foresight, where the egg +is concerned. When, exhausted by their burden, they recognize the +impossibility of escape, the more expert among them ought not to begin all +over again; yet they do so begin a few minutes later. These wonderful +anatomists know absolutely nothing about anything, they do not even know +what their victims are good for. Admirable artists in killing and +paralysis, they kill or paralyse at every favourable opportunity, no matter +what the final result as regards the egg. Their talent, which leaves our +science speechless, has not a shadow of consciousness of the task +accomplished. + +A second detail strikes me: the desperate persistence of the Scolia. I have +seen the struggle continue for more than a quarter of an hour, with +frequent alternations of good luck and bad, before the Wasp achieved the +required position and reached with the end of her abdomen the spot where +the sting should penetrate. During these assaults, which were resumed as +soon as they were repulsed, the aggressor repeatedly applied the tip of her +belly to the larva, but without unsheathing, as I could see by the absence +of the start which the larva gives when it feels the pain of the sting. The +Scolia therefore does not prick the Cetonia anywhere until the weapon +covers the requisite spot. If no wounds are inflicted elsewhere, this is +not in any way due to the structure of the larva, which is soft and +vulnerable all over, except in the head. The point sought by the sting is +no more unprotected than any other part of the skin. + +In the scuffle, the Scolia, curved into a bow, is sometimes seized by the +vice-like grip of the Cetonia-grub, which is violently coiling and +uncoiling. Heedless of the powerful grip, the Wasp does not let go for a +moment, either with her mandibles or with the tip of her abdomen. At such +times the two creatures, locked in a mutual embrace, turn over and over in +a mad whirl, each of them now on top, now underneath. When it contrives to +rid itself of its enemy, the larva uncoils again, stretches itself out and +proceeds to make off upon its back with all possible speed. Its defensive +ruses are exhausted. Formerly, before I had seen things for myself, taking +probability as my guide I willingly granted to the larva the trick of the +Hedgehog, who rolls himself into a ball and sets the Dog at defiance. +Coiled upon itself, with an energy which my fingers have some difficulty in +overcoming, the larva, I thought, would defy the Scolia, powerless to +unroll it and disdaining any point but the one selected. I hoped and +believed that it possessed this means of defence, a means both efficacious +and extremely simple. I had presumed too much upon its ingenuity. Instead +of imitating the Hedgehog and remaining contracted, it flees, belly in air; +it foolishly adopts the very posture which allows the Scolia to mount to +the assault and to reach the spot for the fatal stroke. The silly beast +reminds me of the giddy Bee who comes and flings herself into the clutches +of the Philanthus. Yet another who has learnt no lesson from the struggle +for life. + +Let us proceed to further examples. I have just captured an Interrupted +Scolia (Colpa interrupta, LATR.), exploring the sand, doubtless in search +of game. It is a matter of making the earliest possible use of her, before +her spirit is chilled by the tedium of captivity. I know her prey, the +larva of Anoxia australis (The Anoxia are a genus of Beetles akin to the +Cockchafers.--Translator's Note.); I know, from my past excavations, the +points favoured by the grub: the mounds of sand heaped up by the wind at +the foot of the rosemaries on the neighbouring hill-sides. It will be a +hard job to find it, for nothing is rarer than the common if one wants it +then and there. I appeal for assistance to my father, an old man of ninety, +still straight as a capital I. Under a sun hot enough to broil an egg, we +set off, shouldering a navvy's shovel and a three-pronged luchet. (The +local pitchfork of southern France.--Translator's Note.) Employing our +feeble energies in turns, we dig a trench in the sand where I hope to find +the Anoxia. My hopes are not disappointed. After having by the sweat of our +brow--never was the expression more justified--removed and sifted two cubic +yards at least of sandy soil with our fingers, we find ourselves in +possession of two larvae. If I had not wanted any, I should have turned +them up by the handful. But my poor and costly harvest is sufficient for +the moment. To-morrow I will send more vigorous arms to continue the work +of excavation. + +And now let us reward ourselves for our trouble by studying the tragedy in +the bell-glass. Clumsy, awkward in her movements, the Scolia slowly goes +the round of the circus. At the sight of the game, her attention is +aroused. The struggle is announced by the same preparations as those +displayed by the Two-banded Scolia: the Wasp polishes her wings and taps +the table with the tips of her antennae. And view, halloo! The attack +begins. Unable to move on a flat surface, because of its short and feeble +legs, deprived moreover of the Cetonia-larva's eccentric means of +travelling on its back, the portly grub has no thought of fleeing; it coils +itself up. The Scolia, with her powerful pincers, grips its skin now here, +now elsewhere. Curved into a circle with the two ends almost touching, she +strives to thrust the tip of her abdomen into the narrow opening in the +coil formed by the larva. The contest is conducted calmly, without violent +bouts at each varying accident. It is the determined attempt of a living +split ring trying to slip one of its ends into another living split ring, +which with equal determination refuses to open. The Scolia holds the victim +subdued with her legs and mandibles; she tries one side, then the other, +without managing to unroll the circle, which contracts still more as it +feels its danger increasing. The actual circumstances make the operation +more difficult: the prey slips and rolls about the table when the insect +handles it too violently; there are no points of purchase and the sting +cannot reach the desired spot; the fruitless efforts are continued for more +than an hour, interrupted by periods of rest, during which the two +adversaries represent two narrow, interlocked rings. + +What ought the powerful Cetonia-grub to do to defy the Two-banded Scolia, +who is far less vigorous than her victim? It should imitate the Anoxia- +larva and remain rolled up like a Hedgehog until the enemy retires. It +tries to escape, unrolls itself and is lost. The other does not stir from +its posture of defence and resists successfully. Is this due to acquired +caution? No, but to the impossibility of doing otherwise on the slippery +surface of a table. Clumsy, obese, weak in the legs, curved into a hook +like the common White Worm (The larva of the Cockchafer.--Translator's +Note.), the Anoxia-larva is unable to move along a smooth surface; it +writhes laboriously, lying on its side. It needs the shifting soil in +which, using its mandibles as a plough-share, it digs into the ground and +buries itself. + +Let us try if sand will shorten the struggle, for I see no end to it yet, +after more than an hour of waiting. I lightly powder the arena. The attack +is resumed with a vengeance. The larva, feeling the sand, its native +element, tries to escape. Imprudent creature! Did I not say that its +obstinacy in remaining rolled up was due to no acquired prudence but to the +necessity of the moment? The sad experience of past adversities has not yet +taught it the precious advantage which it might derive from keeping its +coils closed so long as danger remains. For that matter, on the unyielding +support of my table, they are not one and all so cautious. The larger seem +even to have forgotten what they knew so well in their youth: the defensive +art of coiling themselves up. + +I continue my story with a fine-sized specimen, less likely to slip under +the Scolia's onslaught. When attacked, the larva does not curl up, does not +shrink into a ring as did the last, which was younger and only half as +large. It struggles awkwardly, lying on its side, half-open. For all +defence it twists about; it opens, closes and reopens the great hooks of +its mandibles. The Scolia grabs it at random, clasps it in her shaggy legs +and for nearly a quarter of an hour battles with the luscious tit-bit. At +last, after a not very tumultuous struggle, when the favourable position is +attained and the propitious moment has come, the sting is implanted in the +creature's thorax, in a central point, below the throat, level with the +fore-legs. The effect is instantaneous: total inertia, except of the +appendages of the head, the antennae and mouth-parts. I achieved the same +results, the same prick at a definite, invariable point, with my several +operators, renewed from time to time by some lucky cast of the net. + +Let us mention, in conclusion, that the attack of the Interrupted Scolia is +far less fierce than that of the Two-banded Scolia. The Wasp, a rough sand- +digger, has a clumsy gait; her movements are stiff and almost automatic. +She does not find it easy to repeat her dagger-thrust. Most of the +specimens with which I experimented refused a second victim on the first +two days after their exploits. As though somnolent, they did not stir +unless excited by my teasing them with a bit of straw. Although more active +and more ardent in the chase, the Two-banded Scolia likewise does not draw +her weapon every time that I invite her. For all these huntresses there are +moments of inaction which the presence of a fresh prey is powerless to +disturb. + +The Scoliae have taught me nothing further, in the absence of subjects +belonging to other species. No matter: the results obtained represent no +small triumph for my ideas. Before seeing the Scoliae operate, I said, +guided solely by the anatomy of the victims, that the Cetonia-, Anoxia- and +Oryctes-larvae must be paralysed by a single thrust of the lancet; I even +named the point where the sting must strike, a central point, in the +immediate vicinity of the fore-legs. Of the three genera of paralysers, two +have allowed me to witness their surgical methods, which the third, I feel +certain, will confirm. In both cases, a single thrust of the lancet; in +both cases, injection of the venom at a predetermined point. A calculator +in an observatory could not compute the position of his planet with greater +accuracy. An idea may be taken as proved when it attains to this +mathematical forecast of the future, this certain knowledge of the unknown. +When will the acclaimers of chance achieve a like success? Order appeals to +order; and chance knows no laws. + + +CHAPTER 13. THE METHOD OF THE CALICURGI. + +The non-armoured victims, vulnerable by the sting over almost their whole +body, ordinary caterpillars and Looper caterpillars, Cetonia- and Anoxia- +larvae, whose only means of defence, apart from their mandibles, consists +of rollings and contortions, called for the testimony of another victim, +the Spider, almost as ill-protected, but armed with formidable poison- +fangs. How, in particular, will the Ringed Calicurgus set to work in +operating on the Black-bellied Tarantula, the terrible Lycosa, who with a +single bite kills the Mole or the Sparrow and endangers the life of man? +How does the bold Pompilus overcome an adversary more powerful than +herself, better-equipped with virulent poison and capable of making a meal +of her assailant? Of all the Hunting Wasps, none risks such unequal +conflicts, in which appearances would proclaim the aggressor to be the +victim and the victim the aggressor. + +The problem was one deserving patient study. True, I foresaw, from the +Spider's organization, a single sting in the centre of the thorax; but that +did not explain the victory of the Wasp, emerging safe and sound from her +tussle with such a quarry. I had to see what occurred. The chief difficulty +was the scarcity of the Calicurgus. It is easy for me to obtain the +Tarantula at the desired moment: the part of the plateau in my +neighbourhood left untilled by the vine-growers provides me with as many as +are necessary. To capture the Pompilus is another matter. I have so little +hope of finding her that special quests are regarded as useless. To search +for her would perhaps be just the way not to find her. Let us rely on the +uncertainties of chance. Shall I get her or shall I not? + +I've got her. I catch her unexpectedly on the flowers. Next day I supply +myself with half a dozen Tarantulae. Perhaps I shall be able to employ them +one after the other in repeated duels. As I return from my Lycosa-hunt, +luck smiles upon me again and crowns my desires. A second Calicurgus offers +herself to my net; she is dragging her heavy, paralysed Spider by one leg, +in the dust of the highway. I attach great value to my find: the laying of +the egg has become a pressing matter; and the mother, I believe, will +accept a substitute for her victim without much hesitation. Here then are +my two captives, each under her bell-glass with her Tarantula. + +I am all eyes. What a tragedy there will be in a moment! I wait, +anxiously...But...but...what is this? Which of the two is the assailed? +Which is the assailant? The characters seem to be inverted. The Calicurgus, +unable to climb up the smooth glass wall, strides round the ring of the +circus. With a proud and rapid gait, her wings and antennae vibrating, she +goes and returns. The Lycosa is soon seen. The Calicurgus approaches her +without the least sign of fear, walks round her and appears to have the +intention of seizing one of her legs. But at that moment the Tarantula +rises almost vertically on her four hinder legs, with her four front legs +lifted and outspread, ready for the counterstroke. The poison-fangs gape +widely; a drop of venom moistens their tips. The very sight of them makes +my flesh creep. In this terrible attitude, presenting her powerful thorax +and the black velvet of her belly to the enemy, the Spider overawes the +Pompilus, who suddenly turns tail and moves away. The Lycosa then closes +her bundle of poisoned daggers and resumes her natural pose, standing on +her eight legs; but, at the slightest attempt at aggression on the Wasp's +part, she resumes her threatening position. + +She does more: suddenly she leaps and flings herself upon the Calicurgus; +swiftly she clasps her and nibbles at her with her fangs. Without wielding +her sting in self-defence, the other disengages herself and merges +unscathed from the angry encounter. Several times in succession I witness +the attack; and nothing serious ever befalls the Wasp, who swiftly +withdraws from the fray and appears to have received no hurt. She resumes +her marching and countermarching no less boldly and swiftly than before. + +Is this Wasp invulnerable, that she thus escapes from the terrible fangs? +Evidently not. A real bite would be fatal to her. Big, sturdily built +Acridians succumb (Locusts and Grasshoppers.--Translator's Note.); how is +it that she, with her delicate organism, does not! The Spider's daggers, +therefore, make no more than an idle feint; their points do not enter the +flesh of the tight-clasped Wasp. If the strokes were real, I should see +bleeding wounds, I should see the fangs close for a moment on the part +seized; and with all my attention I cannot detect anything of the kind. +Then are the fangs powerless to pierce the Wasp's integuments? Not so. I +have seen them penetrate, with a crackling of broken armour, the corselet +of the Acridians, which offers a far greater resistance. Once again, whence +comes this strange immunity of the Calicurgus held between the legs and +assailed by the daggers of the Tarantula? I do not know. Though in mortal +peril from the enemy confronting her, the Lycosa threatens her with her +fangs and cannot decide to bite, owing to a repugnance which I do not +undertake to explain. + +Obtaining nothing more than alarums and excursions of no great seriousness, +I think of modifying the gladiatorial arena and approximating it to natural +conditions. The soil is very imperfectly represented by my work-table; and +the Spider has not her fortress, her burrow, which plays a part of some +importance both in attack and in defence. A short length of reed is planted +perpendicularly in a large earthenware pan filled with sand. This will be +the Lycosa's burrow. In the middle I stick some heads of globe-thistle +garnished with honey as a refectory for the Pompilus; a couple of Locusts, +renewed as and when consumed, will sustain the Tarantula. These comfortable +quarters, exposed to the sun, receive the two captives under a wire-gauze +dome, which provides adequate ventilation for a prolonged residence. + +My artifices come to nothing; the session closes without result. A day +passes, two days, three; still nothing happens. The Pompilus is assiduous +in her visits to the honeyed flower-clusters; when she has eaten her fill, +she clambers up the dome and makes interminable circuits of the netting; +the Tarantula quietly munches her Locust. If the other passes within reach, +she swiftly raises herself and waves her off. The artificial burrow, the +reed-stump, fulfills its purpose excellently. The Lycosa and the Pompilus +resort to it in turns, but without quarrelling. And that is all. The drama +whose prologue was so full of promise appears to be indefinitely postponed. + +I have a last resource, on which I base great hopes: it is to remove my two +Calicurgi to the very site of their investigations and to install them at +the door of the Spider's lodging, at the top of the natural burrow. I take +the field with an equipment which I am carrying across the country for the +first time: a glass bell-jar, a wire-gauze cover and the various implements +needed for handling and transferring my irascible and dangerous subjects. +My search for burrows among the pebbles and the tufts of thyme and lavender +is soon successful. + +Here is a splendid one. I learn by inserting a straw that it is inhabited +by a Tarantula of a size suited to my plans. The soil around the aperture +is cleared and flattened to receive the wire-gauze, under which I place a +Pompilus. This is the time to light a pipe and wait, lying on the +pebbles...Yet another disappointment. Half an hour goes by; and the Wasp +confines herself to travelling round and round the netting as she did in my +study. She gives no sign of greed when confronted with the burrow, though I +can see the Tarantula's diamond eyes glittering at the bottom. + +The trellised wall is replaced by the glass wall, which, since it does not +allow her to scale its heights, will oblige the Wasp to remain on the +ground and at last to take cognizance of the shaft, which she seems to +ignore. This time we have done the trick! + +After a few circuits of her cage, the Calicurgus notices the pit yawning at +her feet. She goes down it. This daring confounds me. I should never have +ventured to anticipate as much. That she should suddenly fling herself upon +the Tarantula when the latter is outside her stronghold, well and good; but +to rush into the lair, when the terrible monster is waiting for you below +with those two poisoned daggers of hers! What will come of such temerity? A +buzzing of wings ascends from the depths. Run to earth in her private +apartments, the Lycosa is no doubt at grips with the intruder. That hum of +wings is the Calicurgus' paean of triumph, until it be her death-song. The +slayer may well be the slain. Which of the two will come up alive? + +It is the Lycosa, who hurriedly scampers out and posts herself just over +the orifice of the burrow, in her posture of defence, her fangs open, her +four front legs uplifted. Can the other have been stabbed? Not at all, for +she emerges in her turn, not without receiving on the way a cuff from the +Spider, who immediately regains her lair. Dislodged from her basement a +second and yet a third time, the Tarantula always comes up unwounded; she +always awaits her adversary on her threshold, administers punishment and +reenters her dwelling. In vain do I try my two Pompili alternately and +change the burrow; I do not succeed in observing anything else. Certain +conditions not realized by my stratagems are lacking to complete the +tragedy. + +Discouraged by the repetition of my futile attempts, I throw up the game, +the richer however by one fact of some value: the Calicurgus, without the +least fear, descends into the Tarantula's den and dislodges her. I imagine +that things happen in the same fashion outside my cages. When expelled from +her dwelling, the Spider is more timid and more vulnerable to attack. +Moreover, while hampered by a narrow shaft, the operator would not wield +her lancet with the precision called for by her designs. The bold irruption +shows us once again, more plainly than the tussles on my table, the +Lycosa's reluctance to sink her fangs into her enemy's body. When the two +are face to face at the bottom of the lair, then or never is the moment to +have it out with the foe. The Tarantula is in her own house, with all its +conveniences; every nook and corner of the bastion is familiar to her. The +intruder's movements are hampered by her ignorance of the premises. Quick, +my poor Lycosa, quick, a bite; and it's all up with your persecutor! But +you refrain, I know not why, and your reluctance is the saving of the rash +invader. The silly Sheep does not reply to the butcher's knife by charging +with lowered horns. Can it be that you are the Pompilus' Sheep? + +My two subjects are reinstalled in my study under their wire-gauze covers, +with bed of sand, reed-stump burrow and fresh honey, complete. Here they +find again their first Lycosae, fed upon Locusts. Cohabitation continues +for three weeks without other incidents than scuffles and threats which +become less frequent day by day. No serious hostility is displayed on +either side. At last the Calicurgi die: their day is over. A pitiful end +after such an enthusiastic beginning. + +Shall I abandon the problem? Why, not a bit of it! I have encountered +greater difficulties, but they have never deterred me from a warmly- +cherished project. Fortune favours the persevering. She proves as much by +offering me, in September, a fortnight after the death of my Tarantula- +huntresses, another Calicurgus, captured for the first time. This is the +Harlequin Calicurgus (C. scurra, LEP.), who sports the same gaudy costume +as the first and is almost of the same size. + +Now what does this newcomer, of whom I know nothing, want? A Spider, that +is certain; but which? A huntress like this will need a corpulent quarry: +perhaps the Silky Epeira (E. serica), perhaps the Banded Epeira (E. +fasciata), the largest Spiders in the district, next to the Tarantula. The +first of these spreads her large upright net, in which Locusts are caught, +from one clump of brushwood to another. I find her in the copses on the +neighbouring hills. The second stretches hers across the ditches and the +little streams frequented by the Dragon-flies. I find her near the Aygues, +beside the irrigation-canals fed by the torrent. A couple of trips procures +me the two Epeirae, whom I offer to my captive next day, both at the same +time. It is for her to choose according to her taste. + +The choice is soon made: the Banded Epeira is the one preferred. But she +does not yield without protest. On the approach of the Wasp, she rises and +assumes a defensive attitude, just like that of the Lycosa. The Calicurgus +pays no attention to threats: under her harlequin's coat, she is violent in +attack and quick on her legs. There is a rapid exchange of fisticuffs; and +the Epeira lies overturned on her back. The Pompilus is on top of her, +belly to belly, head to head; with her legs she masters the Spider's legs; +with her mandibles she grips the cephalothorax. She curves her abdomen, +bringing the tip of it beneath her; she draws her sting and... + +One moment, reader, if you please. Where is the sting about to strike? From +what we have learnt from the other paralysers, it will be driven into the +breast, to suppress the movement of the legs. That is your opinion; it was +also mine. Well, without blushing too deeply at our common and very +excusable error, let us confess that the insect knows better than we do. It +knows how to assure success by a preparatory manoeuvre of which you and I +had never dreamt. Ah, what a school is that of the animals! Is it not true +that, before striking the adversary, you should take care not to get +wounded yourself? The Harlequin Pompilus does not disregard this counsel of +prudence. The Epeira carries beneath her throat two sharp daggers, with a +drop of poison at their points; the Calicurgus is lost if the Spider bites +her. Nevertheless, her anaesthetizing demands perfect steadiness of the +lancet. What is to be done in the face of this danger which might +disconcert the most practised surgeon? The patient must first be disarmed +and then operated on. + +And in fact the Calicurgus' sting, aimed from back to front, is driven into +the Epeira's mouth, with minute precautions and marked persistency. On the +instant, the poison-fangs close lifelessly and the formidable quarry is +powerless to harm. The Wasp's abdomen then extends its arc and drives the +needle behind the fourth pair of legs, on the median line, almost at the +junction of the belly and the cephalothorax. At this point the skin is +finer and more easily penetrable than elsewhere. The remainder of the +thoracic surface is covered with a tough breast-plate which the sting would +perhaps fail to perforate. The nerve-centres, the source of the leg- +movements, are situated a little above the wounded point, but the back-to- +front direction of the sting makes it possible to reach them. This last +wound results in the paralysis of all the eight legs at once. + +To enlarge upon it further would detract from the eloquence of this +performance. First of all, to safeguard the operator, a stab in the mouth, +that point so terribly armed, the most formidable of all; then, to +safeguard the larva, a second stab in the nerve-centres of the thorax, to +suppress the power of movement. I certainly suspected that the slayers of +robust Spiders were endowed with special talents; but I was far from +expecting their bold logic, which disarms before it paralyses. So the +Tarantula-huntress must behave, who, under my bell-glasses, refused to +surrender her secret. I now know what her method is; it has been divulged +by a colleague. She throws the terrible Lycosa upon her back, pricks her +prickers by stinging her in the mouth and then, in comfort, with a single +thrust of the lancet, obtains paralysis of the legs. + +I examine the Epeira immediately after the operation and the Tarantula when +the Calicurgus is dragging her by one leg to her burrow, at the foot of +some wall. For a little while longer, a minute at most, the Epeira +convulsively moves her legs. So long as these throes continue, the Pompilus +does not release her prey. She seems to watch the progress of the +paralysis. With the tips of her mandibles she explores the Spider's mouth +several times over, as though to ascertain if the poison-fangs are really +innocuous. When all movement subsides, the Pompilus makes ready to drag her +prey elsewhere. It is then I take charge of it. + +What strikes me more than anything else is the absolute inertia of the +fangs, which I tickle with a straw without succeeding in rousing them from +their torpor. The palpi, on the other hand, their immediate neighbours, +wave at the least touch. The Epeira is placed in safety, in a flask, and +undergoes a fresh examination a week later. Irritability has in part +returned. Under the stimulus of a straw, I see her legs move a little, +especially the lower joints, the tibiae and tarsi. The palpi are even more +irritable and mobile. These different movements, however, are lacking in +vigour and coordination; and the Spider cannot employ them to turn over, +much less to escape. As for the poison-fangs, I stimulate them in vain: I +cannot get them to open or even to stir. They are therefore profoundly +paralysed and in a special manner. The peculiar insistence of the sting +when the mouth was stabbed told me as much in the beginning. + +At the end of September, almost a month after the operation, the Epeira is +in the same condition, neither dead nor alive: the palpi still quiver when +touched with a straw, but nothing else moves. At length, after six or seven +weeks' lethargy, real death supervenes, together with its comrade, +putrefaction. + +The Tarantula of the Ringed Calicurgus, as I take her from the owner at the +moment of transportation, presents the same peculiarities. The poison-fangs +are no longer irritable when tickled with my straw: a fresh proof, added to +those of analogy, to show that the Lycosa, like the Epeira, has been stung +in the mouth. The palpi, on the other hand, are and will be for weeks +highly irritable and mobile. I wish to emphasise this point, the importance +of which will be recognized presently. + +I found it impossible to provoke a second attack from my Harlequin +Calicurgus: the tedium of captivity did not favour the exercise of her +talents. Moreover, the Epeira sometimes had something to do with her +refusals; a certain ruse de guerre which was twice employed before my eyes +may well have baffled the aggressor. Let me describe the incident, if only +to increase our respect a little for these foolish Spiders, who are +provided with perfected weapons and do not dare to make use of them against +the weaker but bolder assailant. + +The Epeira occupies the wall of the wire-gauze cage, with her eight legs +wide-spread upon the trelliswork; the Calicurgus is wheeling round the top +of the dome. Seized with panic at the sight of the approaching enemy, the +Spider drops to the ground, with her belly upwards and her legs gathered +together. The other dashes forward, clasps her round the body, explores her +and prepares to sting her in the mouth. But she does not bare her weapon. I +see her bending attentively over the poisoned fangs, as though to +investigate their terrible mechanism; she then goes away. The Spider is +still motionless, so much so that I really believe her dead, paralysed +unknown to me, at a moment when I was not looking. I take her from the cage +to examine her comfortably. No sooner is she placed on the table than +behold, she comes to life again and promptly scampers off! The cunning +creature was shamming death beneath the Wasp's stiletto, so artfully that I +was taken in. She deceived an enemy more cunning than myself, the Pompilus, +who inspected her very closely and took her for a corpse unworthy of her +dagger. Perhaps the simple creature, like the Bear in the fable of old, +already noticed the smell of high meat. + +This ruse, if ruse it be, appears to me more often than not to turn to the +disadvantage of the Spider, whether Tarantula, Epeira or another. The +Calicurgus who has just put the Spider on her back after a brisk fight +knows quite well that her prostrate foe is not dead. The latter, thinking +to protect itself, simulates the inertia of a corpse; the assailant profits +by this to deliver her most perilous blow, the stab in the mouth. Were the +fangs, each tipped with its drop of poison, to open then; were they to +snap, to give a desperate bite, the Pompilus would not dare to expose the +tip of her abdomen to their deadly scratch. The shamming of death is +exactly what enables the huntress to succeed in her dangerous operation. +They say, O guileless Epeirae, that the struggle for life has taught you to +adopt this inert attitude for purposes of defence. Well, the struggle for +life was a very bad counsellor. Trust rather to common sense and learn, by +degrees, at your own cost, that to hit back, above all if you can do so +promptly, is still the best way to intimidate the enemy. (Fabre does not +believe in the actual shamming of death by animals. Cf. "The Glow-worm and +Other Beetles," by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de +Mattos: chapters 8 to 15.--Translator's Note.) + +The remainder of my observations on these insects under glass is little +more than a long series of failures. Of two operators on Weevils, one, the +Sandy Cerceris (C. arenaria), persistently scorned the victims offered; the +other, Ferrero's Cerceris (C. Ferreri), allowed herself to be empted after +two days' captivity. Her tactical method, as I expected, is precisely that +of the Cleonus-huntress, the Great Cerceris, with whom my investigations +commenced. When confronted with the Acorn-weevil, she seizes the insect by +the snout, which is immensely long and shaped like a pipe-stem, and plants +her sting in its body to the rear of the prothorax, between the first and +second pair of legs. It is needless to insist: the spoiler of the Cleoni +has taught us enough about this mode of operation and its results. + +None of the Bembex-wasps, whether chosen among the huntresses of the Gadfly +or among the lovers of the House-fly rabble, satisfied my aspirations. +Their method is as unknown to me now as at the distant period when I used +to watch it in the Bois des Issards. (Cf. "The Hunting Wasps": chapters 14 +to 18.--Translator's Note.) Their impetuous flight, their love of long +journeys are incompatible with captivity. Stunned by colliding with the +walls of their glass or wire-gauze prison, they all perish within twenty- +four hours. Swifter in their movements and apparently satisfied with their +honeyed thistle-heads, the Spheges, huntresses of Crickets or Ephippigers, +die as quickly of nostalgia. All I offer them leaves them indifferent. + +Nor can I get anything out of the Eumenes, notably the biggest of them, the +builder of gravel cupolas, Amedeus' Eumenes. All the Pompili, except the +Harlequin Calicurgus, refuse my Spiders. The Palarus, who preys upon an +indefinite number of the Hymenopteron clan, refuses to tell me if she +drinks the honey of the Bees, as does the Philanthus, or if she lets the +others go without manipulating them to make them disgorge. The Tachytes do +not vouchsafe their Locusts a glance; Stizus ruficornis promptly gives up +the ghost, disdaining the Praying Mantis which I provide for her. + +What is the use of continuing this list of checks? The rule may be gathered +from these few examples: occasional successes and many failures. What can +be the reason? With the exception of the Philanthus, tempted from time to +time by a bumper of honey, the predatory Wasps do not hunt on their own +account; they have their victualling-time, when the egg-laying is imminent, +when the family calls for food. Outside these periods, the finest heads of +game might well leave these nectar-bibbers indifferent. I am careful +therefore, as far as possible, to capture my subjects at the proper season; +I give preference to mothers caught upon the threshold of the burrow with +their prey between their legs. This diligence of mine by no means always +succeeds. There are demoralized insects which, once under glass, even after +a brief delay, no longer care about the equivalent of their prize. + +All the species do not perhaps pursue their game with the same ardour; mood +and temperament are more variable even than conformation. To these factors, +which are of the nicest order, we may add that of the hour, which is often +unfavourable when the subject is caught at haphazard on the flowers, and we +shall have more than enough to explain the frequency of the failures. After +all, I must beware of representing my failures as the rule: what does not +succeed one day may very well succeed another day, under different +conditions. With perseverance and a little skill, any one who cares to +continue these interesting studies will, I am sure, fill up many gaps. The +problem is difficult but not impossible. + +I will not quit my bell-jars without saying a word on the entomological +tact of the captives when they decide to attack. One of the pluckiest of my +subjects, the Hairy Ammophila, was not always provided with the hereditary +dish of her family, the Grey Worm. I offered her indiscriminately any bare- +skinned caterpillars that I chanced to find. Some were yellow, some green, +some brown with white edges. All were accepted without hesitation, provided +that they were of suitable size. Tasty game was recognized wonderfully +under very dissimilar liveries. But a young Zeuzera-caterpillar, dug out of +the branches of a lilac-tree, and a silkworm of small dimensions were +definitely refused. The over-fed products of our silkworm-nurseries and the +mystery-loving caterpillar which gnaws the inner wood of the lilac inspired +her with suspicion and disgust, despite their bare skin, which favoured the +sting, and their shape, which was similar to that of the victims accepted. + +Another ardent huntress, the Interrupted Scolia, refused the Cetonia-grub, +which is of like habits with the Anoxia-larva; the Two-banded Scolia also +refused the Anoxia. The Philanthus, the headlong murderess of Bees, saw +through my trickery when I confronted her with the Virgilian Bee, the +Eristalis (E. tenax). She, a Philanthus, take this Fly for a Bee! What +next! The popular idea is mistaken; antiquity too is mistaken, as witness +the "Georgics," which make the putrid remains of a sacrificed Bull give +birth to a swarm; but the Wasp makes no mistake. In her eyes, which see +farther than ours, the Eristalis is an odious Dipteron, a lover of +corruption, and nothing more. + + +CHAPTER 14. OBJECTIONS AND REJOINDERS. + +No idea of any scope can begin its soaring flight but straightway the +curmudgeons are after it, eager to break its wings and to stamp the wounded +thing under foot. My discovery of the surgical methods that give the +Hunting Wasps their preserved foodstuffs has undergone the common rule. Let +theories be discussed, by all means: the realm of the imagination is an +untilled domain, in which every one is free to plant his own conceptions. +But realities are not open to discussion. It is a bad policy to deny facts +with no more authority than one's wish to find them untrue. No one that I +know of has impugned by contrary observations what I have so long been +saying about the anatomical instinct of the Wasps that hunt their prey; +instead, I am met with arguments. Mercy on us! First use your eyes and then +you shall have leave to argue! And, to persuade people to use their eyes, I +mean to reply, since we have time to spare, to the objections which have +been or may be raised. Of course, I pass over in silence those in which +childish disparagement shows its nose too plainly. + +The sting, I am told, is directed at one point rather than another because +that is the only vulnerable point. The insect cannot choose what wound it +will inflict; it stings where it must. Its wonderful operative method is +the necessary result of the victim's structure. Let us first, if we attach +any importance to lucidity, come to an understanding about the word +"vulnerable." Do you mean by this that the point or rather points wounded +by the sting are the only points at which a lesion will suddenly cause +either death or paralysis? If so, I share your opinion; not only do I share +it, but I was the first to proclaim it. My whole thesis is contained in +that. Yes, a hundred times yes, the points wounded are the only vulnerable +points; they are even very vulnerable; they are the only points which lend +themselves to the infliction of sudden death or else paralysis, according +to the operator's intention. + +But this is not how you understand the matter: you mean accessible to the +sting, in a word, penetrable. Here we part company. I have against me, I +admit, the Weevils and the Buprestes of the Cerceres. These mailed ones +hardly give the sting a chance, save behind the prothorax, the point at +which the lancet is actually directed. If I were one to stand on trifles, I +might observe that in front of the prothorax, under the throat, is an +accessible spot and that the Cerceres will have nothing to do with it. But +let us proceed; I give up the horn-clad Beetle. + +What are we to say of the Grey Worm and other caterpillars beloved of the +Ammophilae? Here are victims accessible to the sting underneath, on the +back, on the sides, fore and aft, everywhere with the same facility, +excepting the top of the head. And of this infinity of points, which are +equally penetrable, the Wasp selects ten, always the same, differing in no +way from the rest, unless it be by the close proximity of the nerve- +centres. What are we to say of the Cetonia- and Anoxia-larvae, which are +always attacked in the first thoracic segment, after long and painful +struggles, when the assailant can sting the grub freely at whatever point +she chooses, since it is quite naked and offers no greater resistance to +the lancet at one point than at another? + +What are we to think of the Sphex' Crickets and Ephippigers, stabbed three +times on the side of the thorax, which is fairly well defended, whereas the +abdomen, soft and bulky, into which the sting would sink like a needle into +a pat of butter, is neglected? Do not let us forget the Philanthus, who +takes no account either of the fissures beneath the abdominal plates or of +the wide hiatus behind the corselet, but plunges her weapon, at the base of +the throat, through a gap of a fraction of a millimetre. Let us just +mention the Mantis-hunting Tachytes. Does she make for the most undefended +point when she stabs, first of all, at its base, the Mantis' dreadful +engine--the arm-pieces each fitted with a double saw--at the risk of being +seized, transfixed and crunched on the spot if she misses her blow? Why +does she not strike at the creature's long abdomen? That would be quite +easy and free from danger. + +And the Calicurgi, if you please. Are they also unskilled duelists, +plunging the dirk into the only easily accessible point, when their very +first move is to paralyse the poison-fangs? If there is one point about the +Tarantula and the Epeira that is dangerous and difficult to attack, it is +certainly the mouth which bites with its two poisoned harpoons. And these +desperadoes dare to brave that deadly trap! Why do they not follow your +judicious advice? They should sting the plump belly, which is wholly +unprotected. They do not; and they have their reasons, as have the others. + +All, from the first to the last, show us, clear as water from the rock, +that the outer structure of the victims operated on counts for nothing in +the method of operating. This is determined by the inner anatomy. The +points wounded are not stung because they are the only points penetrable by +the lancet; they are stung because they fulfil an important condition, +without which penetrability loses its value. This condition is none other +than the immediate proximity of the nerve-centres whose influence has to be +suppressed. When at close quarters with her prey, whether soft or armour- +clad, the huntress behaves as if she understood the nervous system better +than any of us. The thoughtless objection about the only penetrable points +is, I hope, swept aside forever. + +I am also told: + +"It is possible, if it comes to that, for the sting to be delivered in the +neighbourhood of the nerve-centres; in a victim at most three or four +centimetres long, distances are very small. But a casual there or +thereabouts is a very different thing from the precision of which you +speak." + +Oh, they are "thereabouts," are they? We shall see! You want figures, +millimetres, fractions? You shall have them! + +First I call to witness the Interrupted Scolia. If the reader no longer has +her method of operating in mind, I will beg him to refresh his memory. The +two adversaries, in the preliminary conflict, may be fairly well +represented by two rings interlocked not in the same plane but at right +angles. The Scolia grips a point of the Anoxia-grub's thorax; she curves +her body underneath it and, while encircling the grub, gropes with the tip +of her abdomen along the median line of the larva's neck. Owing to her +transversal position, the assailant is now free to aim her weapon in a +slightly slanting direction, whether towards the head or towards the +thorax, at the same point of entry in the larva's throat. Between the two +opposite slants of the sting, which is itself very short, what can the +distance be? Two millimetres (.078 inch.--Translator's Note.), perhaps +less. That is very little. No matter: let the operator make a mistake of +this length--negligible, you may tell me--let the sting slant towards the +head instead of slanting towards the thorax; and the result of the +operation will be entirely different. With a slant towards the head, the +cerebral ganglia are wounded and their lesion causes sudden death. This is +the stroke of the Philanthus, who kills her Bee by stinging her from below, +under the chin. The Scolia needed a motionless but not dead victim, one +that would supply fresh victuals; she will now have only a corpse, which +will soon go bad and poison the larva. + +With a slant towards the thorax, the sting wounds the little mass of nerve- +cells in the thorax. This is the regulation stroke, the one which will +induce paralysis and leave the small amount of life needed to keep the +provisions fresh. A millimetre higher kills; a millimetre lower paralyses. +On this tiny deviation the salvation of the Scolia race depends. You need +not fear that the operator will make any mistake in this micrometrical +performance: her sting always slants towards the thorax, although the +opposite inclination is just as practicable and easy. What would be the +outcome of a there or thereabouts under these conditions? Very often a +corpse, a form of food fatal to the grub. + +The Two-banded Scolia stings a little lower down, on the line of +demarcation between the first two thoracic segments. Her position is +likewise transversal in relation to the Cetonia-grub; but the distance of +the cervical ganglia from the point where the sting enters would possibly +not allow the weapon turned towards the head to inflict a lesion followed +by sudden death as in the above instance. I am calling this witness with +another object. It is extremely unusual for the operator, no matter what +her prey or her method, to make a slight mistake and sting merely somewhere +near the requisite point. I see them all groping with the tip of the +abdomen, sometimes seeking persistently, before unsheathing. They thrust +only when the point beneath the sting is precisely that at which the wound +will produce its full effect. The Two-banded Scolia in particular will +struggle with the Cetonia-grub for half an hour at a time to enable herself +to drive in the stiletto at the right spot. + +Wearied by an endless scuffle, one of my captives committed before my eyes +a slight blunder, an unprecedented thing. Her weapon entered a little to +one side, not quite a millimetre from the central point and still, of +course, on the line of demarcation between the first two thoracic segments. +I at once laid hold of the precious specimen, which was to teach me curious +matters about the effects of an ill-delivered stroke. If I myself had made +the insect sting at this or that point, there would have been no particular +interest in it: the Scolia, held between the finger-tips, would wound at +random, like a Bee defending herself; her undirected sting would inject the +poison at haphazard. But here everything happened by rule, except for the +little error of position. + +Well, the victim of this clumsy operation has its legs paralysed only on +the left side, the side towards which the weapon was deflected; it is a +case of hemiplegia. The legs on the right side move. If the operation had +been performed in the normal fashion the result would have been sudden +inertia of all six legs. The hemiplegia, it is true does not last long. The +torpor of the left half rapidly gains the right half of the body and the +creature lies motionless, incapable of burying itself in the mould, +without, however, realizing the conditions indispensable to the safety of +the egg or the young grub. If I seize one of its legs or a point of the +skin with the tweezers, it suddenly shrivels and curls up and swells out +again, as it does when in complete possession of its energies. What would +become of an egg laid on such victuals? At the first closing of this +ruthless vice, at the first contraction, it would be crushed, or at least +detached from its place; and any egg removed from the point where the +mother has fastened it is bound to perish. It needs, on the Cetonia's +abdomen, a yielding support which the bites of the new-born larva will not +set aquiver. The slightly eccentric sting gives none of this soft mass of +fat, always outstretched and quiescent. Only on the following day, after +the torpor has made progress, does the larva become suitably inert and +limp. But it is too late; and in the meantime the egg would be in serious +danger on this half-paralysed victim. The sting, by straying less than a +millimetre, would leave the Scolia without progeny. + +I promised fractions. Here they are. Let us consider the Tarantula and the +Epeira on whom the Calicurgi have just operated. The first thrust of the +sting is delivered in the mouth. In both victims the poison-fangs are +absolutely lifeless: tickling with a bit of straw never once succeeds in +making them open. On the other hand, the palpi, their very near neighbours, +their adjuncts as it were, possess their customary mobility. Without any +previous touches, they keep on moving for weeks. In entering the mouth the +sting did not reach the cervical ganglia, or sudden death would have ensued +and we should have before our eyes corpses which would go bad in a few +days, instead of fresh carcases in which traces of life remain manifest for +a long time. The cephalic nerve-centres have been spared. + +What is wounded then, to procure this profound inertia of the poison-fangs? +I regret that my anatomical knowledge leaves me undecided on this point. +Are the fangs actuated by a special ganglion? Are they actuated by fibres +issuing from centres exercising further functions? I leave to anatomists +equipped with more delicate instruments than I the task of elucidating this +obscure question. The second conjecture appears to me the more probable, +because of the palpi, whose nerves, it seems to me, must have the same +origin as those of the fangs. Basing our argument on this latter +hypothesis, we see that the Calicurgus has only one means of suppressing +the movement of the poisoned pincers without affecting the mobility of the +palpi, above all without injuring the cephalic centres and thus producing +death, namely, to reach with her sting the two fibres actuating the fangs, +fibres as fine as a hair. + +I insist upon this point. Despite their extreme delicacy, these two +filaments must be injured directly; for, if it were enough for the sting to +inject its poison "there or thereabouts," the nerves of the palpi, so close +to the first, would undergo the same intoxication as the adjacent region +and would leave those appendages motionless. The palpi move; they retain +their mobility for a considerable period; the action of the poison, +therefore, is evidently situated in the nerves of the fangs. There are two +of these nerve-filaments, very fine, very difficult to discover, even by +the professional anatomist. The Calicurgus has to reach them one after the +other, to moisten them with her poison, possibly to transfix them, in any +case to operate upon them in a very restricted manner; so that the +diffusion of the virus may not involve the adjoining parts. The extreme +delicacy of this surgery explains why the weapon remains in the mouth so +long; the point of the sting is seeking and eventually finds the tiny +fraction of a millimetre where the poison is to act. This is what we learn +from the movements of the palpi close to the motionless fangs; they tell us +that the Calicurgi are vivisectors of alarming accuracy. + +If we accept the hypothesis of a special nerve-centre for the mandibles, +the difficulty would be a little less, without detracting from the +operator's talent. The sting would then have to reach a barely visible +speck, an atom in which we should hardly find room for the point of a +needle. This is the difficulty which the various paralysers solve in +ordinary practice. Do they actually wound with their dirks the ganglion +whose influence is to be done away with? It is possible, but I have tried +no test to make sure, the infinitely tiny wound appearing to be too +difficult to detect with the optical instruments at my disposal. Do they +confine themselves to lodging their drop of poison on the ganglion, or at +all events in its immediate neighbourhood? I do not say no. + +I declare moreover, that, to provoke lightning paralysis, the poison, if it +is not deposited inside the mass of nervous substance, must act from +somewhere very near. This assertion is merely echoing what the Two-banded +Scolia has just shown us: her Cetonia-grub, stung less than a millimetre +from the regular spot, did not become motionless until next day. There is +no doubt, judging by this instance, that the effect of the virus spreads in +all directions within a radius of some extent; but this diffusion is not +enough for the operator, who requires for her egg, which is soon to be +laid, absolute safety from the very first. + +On the other hand, the actions of the paralysers argue a precise search for +the ganglia, at all events for the first thoracic ganglion, the most +important of all. The Hairy Ammophila, among others, affords us an +excellent example of this method. Her three thrusts in the caterpillar's +thorax and especially the last, between the first and second pair of legs, +are more prolonged than the stabs distributed among the abdominal ganglia. +Everything justifies us in believing that, for these decisive inoculations, +the sting seeks out the corresponding ganglion and acts only when it finds +it under its point. On the abdomen this peculiar insistence ceases; the +sting passes swiftly from one segment to another. For these segments, which +are less dangerous, the Ammophila perhaps relies on the diffusion of her +venom; in any case, the injections, though hastily administered, do not +diverge from a close vicinity of the ganglia, for their field of action is +very limited, as is proved by the number of inoculations necessary to +induce complete torpor, or, more simply, by the following example. + +A Grey Worm which had just received its first sting on the third thoracic +segment repulses the Ammophila and with a jerk hurls her to a distance. I +profit by the occasion and take hold of the grub. The legs of this third +segment only are paralysed; the others retain their usual mobility. However +helpless in the two injured legs, the animal can walk very well; it buries +itself in the earth, returning to the surface at night to gnaw the stump of +lettuce with which I have served it. For a fortnight my paralytic retains +perfect liberty of action, except in the segment operated on; then it dies, +not of its wound but accidentally. All this time the effect of the poison +has not spread beyond the inoculated segment. + +At any point where the sting enters, anatomy informs us of the presence of +a nervous nucleus. Is this centre directly smitten by the weapon? Or is it +poisoned with virus, from a very small distance, by the progressive +impregnation of the neighbouring tissues? This is the doubtful point, +though it does not in any way invalidate the precision of the abdominal +injections, which are comparatively neglected. As for those in the +caterpillar's thorax, their precision is beyond dispute. After the +Ammophilae, the Scoliae and, above all, the Calicurgi, is it really +necessary to bring into court yet other witnesses, who would all swear +that, with modifications of detail, the movement of their lancet is +strictly regulated by the nervous system of the prey? This ought to be +enough. The proof is established for those who have ears to hear with. + +Others delight in objections whose oddity surprises me. They see in the +poison of the Hunting Wasps an antiseptic liquid and in victuals stored in +their burrows preserved meats which are kept fresh not by a remnant of life +but by the virus and its microbes. Come, my learned masters, let us just +talk the matter over, between ourselves. Have you ever seen the larder of a +skilled Hunting Wasp, a Sphex for instance, a Scolia, an Ammophila? You +haven't, have you? I thought as much. Yet it would be better to begin by +doing so, before bringing the preservative microbe on the scene. The +slightest examination would have shown you that the victuals cannot be +compared exactly with smoked hams. The thing moves, therefore it is not +dead. There you have the whole matter, in its artless simplicity. The palpi +move, the mandibles open and shut, the tarsi quiver, the antennae and the +abdominal filaments wave to and fro, the abdomen throbs, the intestine +rejects its contents, the animal reacts to the stimulus of a needle, all of +which signs are hardly compatible with the idea of pickled meat. + +Have you had the curiosity to look through the pages in which I set forth +the detailed results of my observations? You haven't, have you? Again, I +thought as much. It is a pity. You would there find, in particular, the +history of certain Ephippigers who, after being stung by the Sphex +according to rule, were reared by myself by hand. You must agree that these +are queer preserves to be produced by the use of an antiseptic fluid. They +accept the mouthfuls which I offer them on the tip of a straw; they feed, +they sit up and take nourishment. I shall never live to see tinned sardines +doing as much. + +I will avoid tedious repetition and content myself with adding to my old +sheaf of proofs a few facts which have not yet been related. The Nest- +building Odynerus showed us in her cells a few Chrysomela-larvae fixed by +the hinder part to the side of the reed. The grub fastens itself in this +way to the poplar-leaf to obtain a purchase when the moment has come for +leaving the larval slough. Do not these preparations for the nymphosis tell +us plainly that the creature is not dead? + +The Hairy Ammophila affords us an even better example. A number of +caterpillars operated on before my eyes attained, some sooner, some later, +the chrysalis stage. My notes are explicit on the subject of some of them, +taken on Verbascum sinuatum. Sacrificed on the 14th of April, they were +still irritable when tickled with a straw a fortnight after. A little +later, the pale-green colouring of the early stages is replaced by a +reddish brown, except on two or three segments of the median ventral +surface. The skin wrinkles and splits, but does not come detached of its +own accord. I can easily remove it in shreds. Under this slough appears the +firm, chestnut-brown horn integument of the chrysalis. The development of +the nymphosis is so correct that for a moment the crazy hope occurs to me +that I may see a Turnip-moth come out of this mummy, the victim of a dozen +dagger-thrusts. For the rest, there is no attempt at spinning a cocoon, no +jet of silky threads flung out by the caterpillar before turning into a +chrysalis. Perhaps under normal conditions metamorphosis takes place +without this protection. However, the moth whom I expected to see was +beyond the limits of the possible. In the middle of May, a month after the +operation on the caterpillars, my three chrysalids, still incomplete +underneath, in the three or four middle segments, withered and at last went +mouldy. Is the evidence conclusive this time? Who can conceive such a silly +idea as that a prey really dead, a corpse preserved from putrefaction by an +antiseptic, could contain what is perhaps the most delicate work of life, +the development of the grub into the perfect insect? + +The truth must be driven into recalcitrant brains with great blows of the +sledge-hammer. Let us once more employ this method. In September I unearth +from a heap of mould five Cetonia-grubs, paralysed by the Two-banded Scolia +and bearing on the abdomen the as yet unhatched egg of the Wasp. I remove +the eggs and install the helpless creatures on a bed of leaf-mould with a +glass cover. I propose to see how long I can keep them fresh, able to move +their mandibles and palpi. Already the victims of various Hunting Wasps had +instructed me on a similar matter; I knew that traces of life linger for +two, three, four weeks and longer. For instance, I had seen the Ephippigers +of the Languedocian Sphex continue the waving of their antennae and their +paralytic shudders for forty days of artificial feeding by hand; and I used +to wonder whether the more or less early death of the other victims was not +due to lack of nourishment quite as much as to the operation which they had +undergone. However, the insect in its adult form usually has a very brief +existence. It soon dies, killed by the mere fact of living, without any +other accident. A larva is preferable for these investigations. Its +constitution is livelier, better able to support protracted abstinence, +above all during the winter torpor. The Cetonia-grub, a regular lump of +bacon, nourished by its own fat during the winter season, fulfils the +needful conditions to perfection. What will become of it, lying belly +upwards on its bed of leaf-mould? Will it survive the winter? + +At the end of a month, three of my grubs turn brown and lapse into +rottenness. The other two keep perfectly fresh and move their antennae and +palpi at the touch of a straw. The cold weather comes and tickling no +longer elicits these signs of life. The inertia is complete; nevertheless +their appearance remains excellent, without a trace of the brownish tinge, +the sign of deterioration. At the return of the warm weather, in the middle +of May, there is a sort of resurrection. I find my two larvae turned over, +belly downwards; much more: they are half-buried in the mould. When teased, +they coil up lazily; they move their legs as well as their mouth-parts, but +slowly and without vigour. Then their strength seems to revive. The +convalescent, resuscitated grubs dig with clumsy efforts into their bed of +mould; they dive into it and disappear to a depth of about two inches. +Recovery seems to be imminent. + +I am mistaken. In June I unearth the invalids. This time, the larvae are +dead; their brown colour tells me as much. I expected better things. Never +mind: this is no trifling success. For nine months, nine long months, the +grubs stabbed by the Scolia kept fresh and alive. Towards the end, torpor +was dispelled, strength and movement returned, sufficiently to enable them +to leave the surface where I had placed them and to regain the depths by +boring a passage through the soil. I really think that after this +resurrection there will be no more talk of antiseptics, unless and until +tinned Herrings begin to frolic in their brine. (The subject of this and +the preceding chapters is continued in an essay entitled "The Poison of the +Bee" for which cf. "Bramble-bees and Others": chapter 11.--Translator's +Note.) + + +INDEX. + +Acorn-weevil. + +Amedeus' Eumenes. + +Ameles decolor (see Grey Mantis). + +Ammophila (see also the varieties below). + +Ammophila hursuta (see Hairy Ammophila). + +Ammophila holoserica (see Silky Ammophila). + +Ammophila Julii (see Jules' Ammophila). + +Ammophila sabulosa (see Sandy Ammophila). + +Anathema Tachytes. + +Anoxia (see also the varieties below). + +Anoxia australis. + +Anoxia matutinalis (see Morning Anoxia). + +Anoxia villosa (see Shaggy Anoxia). + +Ant. + +Anthidium (see also the varieties below). + +Anthidium bellicosum. + +Anthidium scapulare. + +Anthidium septemdentatum. + +Anthophora. + +Anthrax (see also Anthrax sinuata). + +Anthrax sinuata. + +Ape. + +Aphis (see Plant-louse). + +Ass. + +Astata. + +Balaninus (see also Balaninus glandum). + +Balaninus glandum (see Acorn-weevil). + +Banded Epeira. + +Bat. + +Bee (see also Bumble-bee, Hive-bee, Mason-bee). + +Bee-eating Philanthus. + +Beetle. + +Bembex (see also the varieties below). + +Bembex bidentata (see Two-pronged Bembex). + +Bembex rostrata (see Rostrate Bembex). + +Black, Adam and Charles. + +Black-bellied Tarantula. + +Black Spider (see Cellar Spider). + +Black Tachytes. + +Blister-beetle (see Oil-beetle). + +Bluebottle. + +Blue Osmia. + +Bombylius. + +Boyle, Robert. + +Brachycera. + +Brachyderes pubescens (see Pubescent Brachyderes). + +Breguet, Louis. + +Brillat-Savarin, Anthelme. + +Brown-winged Solenius. + +Bug. + +Bull. + +Bull, the author's Dog. + +Bullock. + +Bumble-bee. + +Buprestis. + +Buprestis-hunting Cerceris. + +Burnt Zonitis. + +Butterfly. + +Cabbage Pieris. + +Calicurgus (see Pompilus and the varieties below). + +Calicurgus annulatus (see Ringed Calicurgus). + +Calicurgus scurra (see Harlequin Calicurgus). + +Callot, Jacques. + +Cantharides. + +Carpenter-bee. + +Cellar Spider. + +Century co. + +Cerceris (see also Buprestis-hunting Cerceris and the varieties below). + +Cerceris arenaria (see Sand Cerceris). + +Cerceris Ferreri (see Ferrero's Cerceris). + +Cerceris ornata (see Ornate Cerceris). + +Cerceris tuberculata (see Great Cerceris). + +Cerocoma. + +Cetonia (see also the varieties below). + +Cetonia aurata (see Golden Cetonia). + +Cetonia morio. + +Chaffinch. + +Chalicodoma (see Mason-bee). + +Chaoucho-grapaou (see Nightjar). + +Chimpanzee. + +Chrysomela populi (see Poplar Leaf-beetle). + +Cicada. + +Cicadella. + +Cleonus (see also Cleonus ophthalmicus). + +Cleonus ophthalmicus. + +Cneorhinus. + +Cockchafer. + +Colpa interrupta (see Interrupted Scolia). + +Common Cockchafer (see Cockchafer). + +Common Wasp. + +Cotton-bee (see Anthidium scapulare). + +Cow. + +Crab. + +Crabro (see Hornet). + +Crabro chrysostomus (see Golden-mouthed Hornet). + +Cricket. + +Crowned Philanthus. + +Cuckoo. + +Darwin, Charles Robert. + +David the painter. + +David, Felicien Cesar. + +Death's-head Hawk-moth. + +Devilkin (see Empusa). + +Dicranura vinula. + +Dioxys cincta (see Girdled Dioxys). + +Dog (see also Bull). + +Drone-fly. + +Dufour, Jean Marie Leon. + +Duges, Louis Antoine. + +Earth-worm. + +Eight-spotted Pompilus. + +Empusa. + +Epeira (see also the varieties below). + +Epeira fasciata (see Banded Epeira). + +Epeira serica (see Silky Epeira). + +Ephippiger. + +Eristalis E. tenax (see Drone-fly). + +Eucera. + +Euchlora Julii. + +Eumenes (see also Amedeus Eumenes). + +Fabricius, Johan Christian. + +Favier, the author's factotum. + +Ferrero's Cerceris. + +Field-mouse. + +Fly (see also Gad-fly, House-fly). + +Fox. + +Frog. + +Gad-fly. + +Galileo. + +Garden Scolia. + +Garden Spider (see Epeira). + +Geonomus. + +Girdled Dioxys. + +Gnat. + +Goat. + +Goatsucker (see Nightjar). + +Golden Cetonia. + +Golden-crested Wren. + +Golden-mouthed Hornet. + +Golden Osmia. + +Gorilla. + +Grasshopper. + +Great Cellar Spider (see Cellar Spider). + +Great Cerceris. + +Grey Mantis. + +Grey Worm. + +Hairy Ammophila. + +Halictus. + +Harlequin Calicurgus. + +Hedgehog. + +Helophilus pendulus. + +Hemorrhoidal Scolia. + +Hen. + +Herring. + +Hive-bee. + +Hog. + +Hornet (see also Golden-mouthed Hornet). + +House-fly. + +Interrupted Scolia. + +Jules, Ammophila. + +Klug. + +Lalande, Joseph Jerome Le Francais de. + +Lamellicorn. + +Languedocian Sphex. + +Lark. + +Latreille, Pierre Andre. + +Leucopsis gigas, L. grandis. + +Lily-beetle. + +Linnet. + +Locust. + +Looper. + +Lycosa (see Black-bellied Tarantula). + +Macmillan Co. + +Mantis (see also Grey Mantis, Praying Mantis). + +Mantis-hunting Tachytes (see Mantis-killing Tachytes). + +Mantis-killing Tachytes. + +Mariotte, Edme. + +Mason-bee (see also the Anthophora and the varieties below). + +Mason-bee of the Pebbles (see Mason-bee of the Walls). + +Mason-bee of the Sheds. + +Mason-bee of the Shrubs. + +Mason-bee of the Walls. + +Measuring-worm (see Looper). + +Megachile sericans. + +Melanophora. + +Meloe (see Oil-beetle). + +Miall, Bernard. + +Midge. + +Mithradates VI. + +Mole. + +Mole-cricket. + +Monkey. + +Monoceros (see Oryctes nasicornis). + +Morning Anoxia. + +Mosquito. + +Moth. + +Mule. + +Muscid (see House-fly). + +Mylabris. + +Narbonne Lycosa (see Black-bellied Tarantula). + +Nest-building Odynerus. + +Nightjar. + +Nut-weevil. + +Odynerus (see also Nest-building Odynerus). + +Oil-beetle. + +Ornate Cerceris. + +Oryctes nasicornis. + +Oryctes Silenus. + +Osmia (see also the varieties below). + +Osmia cyanea (see Blue Osmia). + +Osmia cyanoxantha. + +Osmia Latreillii (see Latreille's Osmia). + +Osmia parvula (see Tiny Osmia). + +Osmia tricornis (see Three-horned Osmia). + +Ostrich. + +Otiorhynchus. + +Palarus (see also Palarus flavipes). + +Palarus flavipes. + +Pangonia. + +Panzer's Tachytes. + +Paragus. + +Pascal, Blaise. + +Passerini. + +Pea-weevil. + +Pelopaeus. + +Pentodon punctatus. + +Perez, J. + +Phaneropteron falcata. + +Philanthus (see also the varieties below). + +Philanthus apivorus (see Bee-eating Philanthus). + +Philanthus coronatus (see Crowned Philanthus). + +Philanthus raptor (see Robber Philanthus). + +Phynotomus. + +Pieris (see Cabbage Pieris). + +Pig. + +Pine-chafer. + +Pithecanthropus. + +Plant-louse. + +Pompilus (see also the varieties below). + +Pompilus annulatus (see Ringed Calicurgus). + +Pompilus apicalis. + +Pompilus octopunctatus (see Eight-spotted Pompilus). + +Poplar Leaf-Beetle. + +Praying Mantis. + +Pubescent Brachyderes. + +Rat. + +Resin-bee (see Anthidium bellicosum, Anthidium septemdentatum). + +Rhinoceros Beetle (see Oryctes nasicornis). + +Rhynchites betuleti. + +Ringed Calicurgus. + +Ringed Pompilus (see Ringed Calicurgus). + +Robber Philanthus. + +Robber-fly. + +Robin. + +Romanes, George John. + +Rose-chafer (see Cetonia, Golden Cetonia). + +Rostrate Bembex. + +Sand Cerceris. + +Sandy Ammophila. + +Sapyga punctata (see Spotted Sapyga). + +Sarcophaga. + +Scarabaeid. + +Scarabaeus pentodon. + +Scolia (see also the varieties below). + +Scolia bifasciata (see Two-banded Scolia). + +Scolia haemorrhoidalis (see Hemorrhoidal Scolia). + +Scolia hortorum (see Garden Scolia). + +Scolia interrupta (see Interrupted Scolia). + +Screech-owl. + +Seal. + +Segestria perfidia (see Cellar Spider). + +Shaggy Anoxia. + +Sheep. + +Silkworm. + +Silky Ammophila. + +Silky Epeira. + +Silky Leaf-cutter (see Megachile sericans). + +Sitones. + +Skua. + +Slug. + +Snail. + +Socrates. + +Solenius fascipennis (see Brown-winged Solenius). + +Solenius vagus (see Wandering Solenius). + +Sparrow. + +Sparrow-hawk. + +Sphaerophoria. + +Sphex (see also Languedocian Sphex, White-banded Sphex, Yellow-winged +Sphex.) + +Spider (see also Black-bellied Tarantula, Cellar Spider, Epeira. + +Spotted Sapyga. + +Spurge Hawk-moth. + +Stizus (see also the varieties below). + +Stizus ruficornis. + +Stizus tridentatus. + +Strophosomus. + +Swallow. + +Swammerdam, Jan. + +Syritta perpens. + +Syrphus. + +Tachytes (see also Mantis-killing Tachytes and the varieties below). + +Tachytes anathema (see Anathema Tachytes). + +Tachytes nigra (see Black Tachytes). + +Tachytes Panzeri (see Panzer's Tachytes). + +Tachytes tarsina (see Tarsal Tachytes). + +Tachytes unicolor. + +Tarantula (see Black-bellied Tarantula). + +Tarsal Bembex. + +Tarsal Tachytes. + +Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander. + +Three-horned Osmia. + +Tiny Osmia. + +Toad. + +Toricelli, Evangelista. + +Toussenel, Alphonse. + +Turkey. + +Turnip Moth. + +Two-banded Scolia. + +Two-pronged Bembex. + +Unwin, T. Fisher, Ltd. + +Vespa crabro (see Hornet). + +Virgilian Bee, Virgil's Bee (see Drone-fly). + +Wandering Solenius. + +Wasp (see Common Wasp). + +Weevil (see also Acorn-weevil, Nut-weevil, Pea-weevil). + +Whale. + +Whippoorwill (see Nightjar). + +White-banded Sphex. + +White Worm. + +Wolf. + +Yellow-winged Sphex. + +Zeuzera. + +Zonitis praeusta (see Burnt Zonitis). + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of More Hunting-wasps by J. Henri Fabre diff --git a/old/mhtgw10.zip b/old/mhtgw10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7102987 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mhtgw10.zip |