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 harpoon