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Updated: June 15, 2025
The number of burrows of Philanthus apivorus which I have inspected since I have been rummaging the hot roadside embankments, to enquire into their population, would seem hyperbolical were I able to state the figures.
The inference drawn from this sudden inertia is inevitable: the Wasp has stabbed the cervical ganglia. Hence the immediate cessation of movement in all the organs of the head; hence the real instead of the apparent death of the Bee. The Philanthus is a butcher and not a paralyser. This is one step gained.
The Tachina, however, dares not go down to the cells where the huntress stacks her provisions; she prudently waits at the door for the Philanthus to arrive. The crime, the laying of the egg, is committed at the very moment when the victim is about to vanish underground. The troubles of the parasite of the Halictus are of quite another kind.
I was well-advised to do so, for my success was in inverse ratio to my hopes. Next to the Philanthus, none of the Hunting Wasps displayed such ardour in attacking under artificial conditions. All the insects experimented upon, some sooner, some later, rewarded me for my patience. The incarcerated larva strives to escape its terrible neighbour.
Well, I will make a present of my deductive views, without regret, to whoever cares to have them: I don't believe one word of them; and I confess my profound ignorance of the origin of the twofold diet. What I do understand more clearly, after all these investigations, is the tactics of the Philanthus.
Though so slight a creature as the male Philanthus finds a ration of two Bees sufficient for his needs, the female, twice or thrice as bulky, will consume three to six at least. If the male Tachytes requires three Mantes, his consort's meal will demand a batch of something like ten.
That she does not defend herself to better purpose, when she falls into her enemy's clutches, is due to her ignorance of fencing and not to the weakness of her weapon. And here again arises, more insistently than before, the question which I asked above: how is it that the Philanthus has learnt for offensive what the Bee has not learnt for defensive purposes?
The trickling of earthy refuse, on the bare banks, or on the slopes of footpaths, instantly reveals the dwellings of the ravisher; and, as the Philanthus always works in fairly populous colonies, I am able, by noting the position of the communities, to make sure of fruitful excavations during the forced inactivity of winter. The sapping is a laborious task, for the galleries run to a great depth.
For a long time I suspected Philanthus of committing such acts of brigandage for her own benefit, having many times surprised her gluttonously licking the honey-smeared mouth of the bee; I suspected that her hunting of the bee was not undertaken entirely for the benefit of her larvæ. The suspicion was worth experimental confirmation.
This odious meal at the expense of a corpse's stomach is taken in a sybaritic attitude; the Philanthus lies on her side with the Bee between her legs. The atrocious banquet sometimes lasts for half an hour or longer. At last the drained Bee is discarded, not without regret, it seems, for from time to time I see the manipulation renewed.
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