More Hunting Wasps

and I will tell you what you are," certainly never suspected the signal

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-

in 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 Rob

s, 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 n

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 excl

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 L

t 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 an

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

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 t

n 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,

acteristic tastes, so much so that, when we know the bill of fare, we can tell the genus and very often the specie

ation 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 natur

r, 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 hes

eevil-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

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 succ

d 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'

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 ord

tor 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

ent, 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 excav

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 f

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

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

mbly 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

picion 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. Obstinat

e 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

ex, 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 a

ieris. 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

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 eli

ll 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

ouna! Ah, pecaire!" "Look, sir! The frost has come an

ult 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 mad

rily, 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

rtments 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

mes 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 rep

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

een 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 Locus

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

little dieting after this Gargantuan good cheer. The mother certainly is more parsimonious. If all the family were to eat at the same rate

two Phaneropterae. One is consumed

ems uneasy. With its pointed mouth it explores the walls of its cham

hen follow, in due time, the normal phases of the metamorphosis. Fed on Locustidae, a diet unknown to its race, t

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 complete

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

, 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 imm

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 dicta

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 tedio

bly 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

e 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.

rmal 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 su

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

ve 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 wh

licti; 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 a

rva 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 ta