he corselet, behind the first pair of legs; perfectly aware of the
fine membrane in that part, although it does not take advantage of the
fact when employing its sting, although this vulnerable point is the
more accessible of the two breaches in the bee's armour. I see it
squeezing the bee's stomach, compressing it with its own abdomen,
crushing it as in a vice. The brutality of this manipulation is
striking; it shows that there is no more need of care and skill. The
bee is a corpse, and a little extra pushing and squeezing will not
deteriorate its quality as food, provided there is no effusion of blood;
and however rough the treatment, I have never been able to discover the
slightest wound.

These various manipulations, above all the compression of the throat,
lead to the desired result: the honey in the stomach of the bee ascends
to the mouth. I see the drops of honey welling out, lapped up by the
glutton as soon as they appear. The bandit greedily takes in its mouth
the extended and sugared tongue of the dead insect; then once more it
presses the neck and the thorax, and once more applies the pressure of
its abdomen to the honey-sac of the bee. The honey oozes forth and is
instantly licked up. This odious meal at the expense of the corpse is
taken in a truly sybaritic attitude: the Philanthus lies upon its side
with the bee between its legs. This atrocious meal lasts often half an
hour and longer. Finally the exhausted corpse is abandoned; regretfully,
it seems, for from time to time I have seen the ogre return to the feast
and repeat its manipulation of the body. After taking a turn round the
top of the bell-glass the robber of the dead returns to the victim,
squeezes it once more, and licks its mouth until the last trace of honey
has disappeared.

The frantic passion of the Philanthus for the honey of the bee is
betrayed in another fashion. When the first victim has been exhausted I
have introduced a second bee, which has been promptly stabbed under the
chin and squeezed as before in order to extract its honey. A third has
suffered the same fate without appeasing the bandit. I have offered a
fourth, a fifth; all are accepted. My notes record that a Philanthus
sacrificed six bees in succession before my eyes, and emptied them all
of honey in the approved manner. The killing came to an end not because
the glutton was satiated, but because my functions as provider were
becoming troublesome; the dry month of August le