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A sphex may be seen to make holes in the ground, placing stupified insects in them with her eggs; another species watches when she goes off to get more insects, and every now and then goes in too to lay her eggs, I suppose without any labour: there does not appear to be any enmity between them. We remained a day to buy food for the party, and eat our ox. 14th June, 1868.
The inner envelope is firm, elastic, rigid and, to a certain point, brittle. I do not hesitate to look upon it as consisting of a silken tissue which the larva, towards the end of its task, has steeped thoroughly in a sort of varnish prepared not by the silk-glands but by the stomach. The cocoons of the Sphex have already shown us a similar varnish.
Uric acid, the inevitable product of the vital transformations, or at all events one of its analogues, must be formed in both. But the Hydrophilus' larva shows no accumulation of it in its adipose layer, whereas the Sphex' is full of it.
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 Sphex. "The Hunting Wasps": chapter 11.
It will be seen, then, that if we suppose the instinct of the Sphex to be slowly developed by being derived from a sting given at random, we make a supposition which is quite admissible and rests on ascertained facts.
Instead of laying up honey they store animal provisions for their larvæ. Fabre has studied one of them, the Sphex flavipennis. It is in September that this wasp lays her eggs; during this month to shelter her little ones she hollows out a dozen burrows and provisions them. She has then to devote about three days' work to each of them, for there is much to do, as may be imagined.
All that I can affirm, judging by the invariable nature of the prey which one sees her dragging along, is that she must feed her larvae on the same non-adult Cricket that the Yellow-winged Sphex chooses for hers. Is she a poacher, a pillager of other's property, or a genuine huntress? My suspicions are persistent, though I know how chary a man should be of suspicions.
After a short period of development a new sphex wasp is ready to work its way out of the tunnel, find a mate, dig a hole, and safely provide for its own children. Still more remarkable adaptations for the care of the young appear among the birds. Here the eggs are not to be deserted, but are to be cared for until the young appear.
The sight of them sends a younger blood coursing through my veins; I receive as it were the breath of a new springtime of life. Time presses; let us pass on. Another bow on this side. I hear buzzing up above, on that ledge, a colony of Sphex wasps, stabbing their crickets. We will give them a friendly glance, but no more.
It would be out of place, despite its importance, to pursue the problem of the uric residues any further. Our subject is coloration. Let us return to it with the evidence supplied by the Sphex. Her almost transparent larva has the neutral tint of fluid white of egg.
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