rther. The Mantis
moves along quite well, with her corselet proudly raised, in her usual
attitude; but the predatory fore-arms, instead of being folded against
the chest, ready for attack, hang lifeless and open. I keep the cripple
for twelve days longer, during which she refuses all nourishment, being
incapable of using her tongs to seize the prey and lift it to her mouth.
The prolonged abstinence kills her.

Some suffer from locomotor ataxy. My notes recall an Ephippiger who,
pricked in the prothorax away from the median line, retained the use
of her six limbs without being able to walk or climb for lack of
co-ordination in her movements. A singular awkwardness left her wavering
between going back and going forward, between turning to the right and
turning to the left.

Some are smitten with semiparalysis. A Cetonia-grub, pricked away from
the centre on a level with the fore-legs, has her right side flaccid,
spread out, incapable of contracting, while the left side swells,
wrinkles and contracts. Since the left half no longer receives the
symmetrical cooperation of the right half, the grub, instead of curling
into the normal volute, closes its spiral on one side and leaves it wide
open on the other. The concentration of the nervous apparatus, poisoned
by the venom down one side of the body only, a longitudinal half,
explains this condition, which is the most remarkable of all.

There is nothing to be gained by multiplying these examples. We have
seen pretty clearly the great variety of results produced by the
haphazard sting of a Bee's abdomen; let us now come to the crux of the
matter. Can the Bee's poison reduce the prey to the condition required
by the predatory Wasp? Yes, I have proved it by experiment; but the
proof calls for so much patience that it seemed to me to suffice when
obtained once for each species. In such difficult conditions, with a
poison of excessive strength, a single success is conclusive proof; the
thing is possible so long as it occurs once.

A female Ephippiger is stung at the median point, just a little in front
of the fore-legs. Convulsive movements lasting for a few seconds
are followed by a fall to one side, with pulsations of the abdomen,
flutterings of the antennae and a few feeble movements of the legs. The
tarsi cling firmly to the hair-pencil which I hold out to them. I place
the insect on its back. It lies motionless. Its state is absolutely the
same as that to which the Langued