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At one time I had my doubts about Panzer's Tachytes, whom I grudged a prey to which the White-banded Sphex might have laid claim. To-day I have no such doubts: she is an honest worker and her game is really the result of her hunting.
This hamlet, small in extent, but nevertheless densely populated, shows us the Mantis-slayer under a moral aspect which is not shared by the Locust slayer, Panzer's Tachytes, who resembles her so closely in costume.
When the time comes we will discover the reason for these differences in the rations served. The Mantis-killing Tachytes wears a red scarf, like her kinswoman, Panzer's Tachytes. This species may well be new to our fauna.
She will scorn the morsel, though it would seem to be of excellent flavour, seeing that Panzer's Tachytes prefers it to any other form of game. Offer her a young Empusa, who differs so widely from the Mantis in shape and colour: she will accept without hesitation and operate before your eyes.
The Tachytes, still flying, alights on the threshold of the home and immediately, contrary to the custom of Panzer's Tachytes, enters with her prey trailing behind her. It is not unusual for a male to come upon the scene at the moment of the mother's arrival. He is promptly snubbed. This is the time for work, not for amusement.
Thus the Tarsal Tachytes, an appreciative epicure of tender flesh, would not consent to replace her pinch of young Acridian-grubs with the one big Locust that forms the food of Panzer's Tachytes; and the latter, in her turn, would never exchange her adult Acridian for the other's menu of small fry.
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