rmed 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
behi