d? The slayer knows better than we, when she
pierces the victim beneath the chin. Through the narrow breach in the
throat the cerebral ganglions are reached and immediate death ensues.

The examination of these acts of brigandage is not sufficient in view of
my incorrigible habit of following every reply by another query, until
the granite wall of the unknowable rises before me. Although the
Philanthus is skilled in forcing the bee to disgorge, in emptying the
crop distended with honey, this diabolical skill cannot be merely an
alimentary resource, above all when in common with other insects she has
access to the refectory of the flowers. I cannot regard her talents as
inspired solely by the desire of a meal obtained by the labour of
emptying the stomach of another insect. Something must surely escape us
here: the real reason for emptying the stomach. Perhaps a respectable
reason is concealed by the horrors I have recorded. What is it?

Every one will understand the vagueness which fills the observer's mind
in respect of such a question as this. The reader has the right to be
doubtful. I will spare him my suspicions, my gropings for the truth, and
the checks encountered in the search, and give him the results of my
long inquiry. Everything has its appropriate and harmonious reason. I am
too fully persuaded of this to believe that the Philanthus commits her
profanation of corpses merely to satisfy her appetite. What does the
empty stomach mean? May it not--Yes!--But, after all, who knows? Well,
let us follow up the scent.

The first care of the mothers is the welfare of the family. So far all
we know of the Philanthus concerns her talent for murder. Let us
consider her as a mother. We have seen her hunt on her own account; let
us now watch her hunt for her offspring, for the race. Nothing is
simpler than to distinguish between the two kinds of hunting. When the
insect wants a few good mouthfuls of honey and nothing else, she
abandons the bee contemptuously when she has emptied its stomach. It is
so much valueless waste, which will shrivel where it lies and be
dissected by ants. If, on the other hand, she intends to place it in the
larder as a provision for her larvae, she clasps it with her two
intermediate legs, and, walking on the other four, drags it to and fro
along the edge of the bell-glass in search of an exit so that she may
fly off with her prey. Having recognised the circular wall as
impassable, she climbs it