kills it. Why kill it? If the
eyes of our understanding be not closed, the need for sudden death is
clear as daylight. The Philanthus proposes to obtain the honeyed broth
without ripping up the Bee, a proceeding which would damage the game
when it is hunted on behalf of the larvae, without resorting to the
murderous extirpation of the crop. She must, by able handling, by
skilful pressure, make the Bee disgorge, she must milk her, in a manner
of speaking. Suppose the Bee stung behind the corselet and paralysed.
That deprives her of her power of locomotion, but not of her vitality.
The digestive organs in particular retain or very nearly retain their
normal energy, as is proved by the frequent excretions that take place
in the paralysed prey, so long as the intestine is not empty, as is
proved above all by the victims of the Languedocian Sphex (Cf. "The
Hunting Wasp": chapters 8 to 10.--Translator's Note.), those helpless
creatures which I used to keep alive for forty days on end with a soup
consisting of sugar and water. It is absurd to hope, without therapeutic
means, without a special emetic, to coax a sound stomach into emptying
its contents. The stomach of the Bee, who is jealous of her treasure,
would lend itself to the process even less readily than another. When
paralysed, the insect is inert; but there are always internal energies
and organic forces which will not yield to the manipulator's pressure.
The Philanthus will nibble at the throat and squeeze the sides in vain:
the honey will not rise to the mouth so long as a vestige of life keeps
the crop closed.

Things are different with a corpse. The tension is relaxed, the muscles
become slack, the resistance of the stomach ceases and the bag of honey
is emptied by the robber's vigorous pressure. You see, therefore, that
the Philanthus is expressly obliged to inflict a sudden death, which
will do away at once with the elasticity of the organs. Where is the
lightning stroke to be delivered? The slayer knows better than we do,
when she sticks the Bee under the chin. The cerebral ganglia are reached
through the little hole in the neck and death ensues immediately.

The relation of these acts of brigandage cannot satisfy my distressing
habit of following each reply obtained with a fresh question, until the
granite wall of the unknowable rises before me. If the Philanthus is
an expert in killing Bees and emptying crops swollen with honey, this
cannot be merely an ali