In view of this fact, that the prey is quite dead at the moment when it is carried off, who would not admire the logic of the Bembex’ procedure? How methodical and consistent everything is in the actions of the cunning Wasp! As the provisions cannot keep beyond two or three days without going bad, they must not be stored entire in the first stages of an infancy which will last at least a fortnight; and the hunting and distribution must necessarily be done day by day, bit by bit, as the larva grows up. The first ration, the one that receives the egg, will last longer than the others; the budding grub will take several days to eat its flesh. It must therefore be small, otherwise the joint would begin to putrefy before it was all finished. This joint therefore will not be a bulky Gad-fly or a corpulent Bombylius, but rather a tiny Sphærophoria, or something similar, making a dainty meal for the larva which is still so delicate. Later, getting bigger and bigger in time, will come the larger joints of venison. The burrow must be kept shut during the mother’s absence, to save the larva from regrettable intrusions; nevertheless the entrance must be one that can be opened very frequently and hurriedly, without much difficulty, when the Wasp returns laden with her prey and watched by the sharp eyes of daring parasites. These conditions could not be obtained with a compact soil such as that in which the Digger-wasps usually make their abodes: the door, left to itself, would stay open; and so, each time, there would be the long and toilsome job of either blocking up the entrance with earth and gravel or unblocking it, as the case might be. The house therefore must be dug in ground with a very loose surface, in fine dry sand, which will at once yield to the slightest effort on the mother’s part and, as it slides down, will close the door of its own accord, like a curtain which, when you thrust it aside with your hand, lets you pass through and then falls back again. There you have the series of actions as deduced by man’s reason and as practised by the Wasp’s sagacity.