As well! What have I just said? Wait a little, and it will be seen that I had to attend the Sphex’s school for many another day. For my two ephippigers speedily died—died outright, and after three or four days I had only decaying bodies under my eyes. But the ephippiger of the Sphex? Need I say that ten days after the operation this was perfectly fresh, as it has to be for the larva whose destined prey it is. Yet more, a few hours after the operation under the skull, there reappeared as if nothing had happened movements of an irregular kind in feet, antennæ, palpi, ovipositor, and mandibles—in short, the creature was again in the same state as before the Sphex bit its brain. And the movements went on, only feebler each day. The Sphex had only benumbed her victim for a period amply sufficient to enable her to get it home without resistance, while I, who thought myself her rival, was but a clumsy, barbarous butcher, and killed mine. She, with her inimitable dexterity, compressed the brain scientifically to cause a lethargy of a few hours; I, brutal through ignorance, perhaps crushed this delicate organ, primal source of life, with my pincers. If anything could prevent my blushing at my defeat, it would be that few if any could rival the Sphex in skill. Ah! now I comprehend why she did not use her sting to injure the ganglia of the neck. A drop of poison instilled here, at the centre of vital force, would annihilate all nerve power, and death would soon follow. But the Sphex does not at all desire death. Dead food by no means suits the larvæ, and still less a body smelling of decay. All that is needed is lethargy, a passing torpor, hindering resistance while the victim is carted along—resistance difficult to overcome and dangerous to the Sphex. This torpor is obtained by the proceeding known in laboratories of experimental science as compression of the brain. The Sphex acts like a Flourens who, baring an animal’s brain and pressing on the cerebrum, abolishes at once sensibility, will, intelligence, and motion. The pressure ceases and all reappears. So reappear the remains of life in the ephippiger as the lethargic effects of a skilful pressure go off. The ganglia of the skull, squeezed by the mandibles, but without mortal contusions, gradually recover activity, and put an end to the general torpor. It is alarmingly scientific!