d been forced, at
all costs, to concoct a barbarous appellation out of Latin or Greek in
order to recall the creature's leading characteristic, I should have
attempted to say, a passionate lover of the Locust.

Love of the Locust, in the broader sense of the Orthopteron, an
exclusive, intolerant love, handed down from mother to daughter with
a fidelity which the centuries fail to impair, this, yes, this indeed
depicts the Tachytes with greater accuracy than a name smacking of
the race-course. The Englishman has his roast-beef; the German his
sauerkraut; the Russian his caviare; the Neapolitan his macaroni; the
Piedmontese his polenta; the man of Carpentras his tian. The Tachytes
has her Locust. Her national dish is also that of the Sphex, with whom I
boldly associate her. The methodical classifier, who works in cemeteries
and seems to fly the living cities, keeps the two families far removed
from each other because of considerations and attaching to the nervures
of the wings and the joints of the palpi. At the risk of passing for a
heretic, I bring them together at the suggestion of the menu-card.

To my own knowledge, my part of the country possesses five species, one
and all addicted to a diet of Orthoptera. Panzer's Tachytes (T. Panzeri,
VAN DER LIND), girdled with red at the base of the abdomen, must be
pretty rare. I surprise her from time to time working on the hard
roadside banks and the trodden edges of the footpaths. There, to a depth
of an inch at most, she digs her burrows, each isolated from the
rest. Her prey is an adult, medium-sized Acridian (Locust or
Grasshopper.--Translator's Note.), such as the White-banded Sphex
pursues. The captive of the one would not be despised by the other.
Gripped by the antennae, according to the ritual of the Sphex, the
victim is trailed along on foot and laid beside the nest, with the head
pointing towards the opening. The pit, prepared in advance, is closed
for the time being with a tiny flagstone and some bits of gravel, in
order to avoid either the invasion of a passer-by or obstruction by
landslips during the huntress' absence. A like precaution is taken by
the White-banded Sphex. Both observe the same diet and the same customs.

The Tachytes clears the entrance to the home and goes in alone. She
returns, puts out her head and, seizing her prey by the antennae,
warehouses it by dragging backwards. I have repeated, at her expense,
the tricks which I used to play on the