unsheath her weapon but
once, causes the most exquisite pain. What would it be like if one were
stabbed by this colossus? The prospect of a swelling as big as a man's
fist and as painful as the touch of a red-hot iron passes through our
mind at the moment when we are bringing down the net. And we refrain,
we beat a retreat, we are greatly relieved not to have aroused the
dangerous creature's attention.

Yes, I confess to having run away from my first Scoliae, anxious though
I was to enrich my budding collection with this magnificent insect.
There were painful recollections of the Common Wasp and the Hornet
connected with this excess of prudence. I say excess, for to-day,
instructed by long experience, I have quite recovered from my former
fears; and, when I see a Scolia resting on a thistle-head, I do not
scruple to take her in my fingers, without any precaution whatever,
however large she may be and however menacing her aspect. My courage is
not all that it seems to be; I am quite ready to tell the Wasp-hunting
novice this. The Scoliae are notably peaceable. Their sting is an
implement of labour far more than a weapon of war; they use it to
paralyse the prey destined for their offspring; and only in the last
extremity do they employ it in self-defence. Moreover, the lack of
agility in their movements nearly always enables us to avoid their
sting; and, even if we be stung, the pain is almost insignificant.
This absence of any acute smarting as a result of the poison is almost
constant in the Hunting Wasps, whose weapon is a surgical lancet and
devised for the most delicate physiological operations.

Among the other Scoliae of my district I will mention the Two-banded
Scolia (S. bifasciata, VAN DER LIND), whom I see every year, in
September, working at the heaps of leaf-mould which are placed for
her benefit in a corner of my paddock; and the Interrupted Scolia (S.
interrupta, LATR.), the inhabitant of the sandy soil at the foot of the
neighbouring hills. Much smaller than the two preceding insects, but
also much commoner, a necessary condition of continuous observation,
they will provide me with the principal data for this study of the
Scoliae.

I open my old note book; and I see myself once more, on the 6th of
August, 1857, in the Bois des Issards, that famous copse near Avignon
which I have celebrated in my essay on the Bembex-wasps. (Cf. "The
Hunting Wasps": chapter 14.--Translator's Note.) Once again, my head
cr