m in my first investigations, which
date a very long time back, it is not possible for me to ascribe to
each of them its respective nest. But their habits are the same, for
which reason this confusion does not injuriously affect the order of
ideas in the present chapter.--Author's Note.)

Similar in form and colouring, both possess a like talent for
architecture; and this talent is expressed in a work of the highest
perfection which charms the most untutored eye. Their dwelling is a
masterpiece. The Eumenes follow the profession of arms, which is
unfavourable to artistic effort; they stab a prey with their sting;
they pillage and plunder. They are predatory Hymenoptera, victualling
their grubs with caterpillars. It will be interesting to compare their
habits with those of the operator on the Grey Worm. (Ammophila hirsuta,
who hunts the Grey Worm, the caterpillar of Noctua segetum, the Dart or
Turnip Moth.--Translator's Note.) Though the quarry--caterpillars in
either case--remain the same, perhaps instinct, which is liable to vary
with the species, has fresh glimpses in store for us. Besides, the
edifice built by the Eumenes in itself deserves inspection.

The Hunting Wasps whose story we have described in former volumes are
wonderfully well versed in the art of wielding the lancet; they astound
us with their surgical methods, which they seem to have learnt from
some physiologist who allows nothing to escape him; but those skilful
slayers have no merit as builders of dwelling-houses. What is their
home, in point of fact? An underground passage, with a cell at the end
of it; a gallery, an excavation, a shapeless cave. It is miner's work,
navvy's work: vigorous sometimes, artistic never. They use the pick-axe
for loosening, the crowbar for shifting, the rake for extracting the
materials, but never the trowel for laying. Now in the Eumenes we see
real masons, who build their houses bit by bit with stone and mortar
and run them up in the open, either on the firm rock or on the shaky
support of a bough. Hunting alternates with architecture; the insect is
a Nimrod or a Vitruvius by turns. (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the Roman
architect and engineer.--Translator's Note.)

And, first of all, what sites do these builders select for their homes?
Should you pass some little garden-wall, facing south, in a
sun-scorched corner, look at the stones that are not covered with
plaster, look at them one by one, especially the largest; exa