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Fabre Jean-Henri. More Hunting Wasps
More Hunting Wasps
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1. THE POMPILI
CHAPTER 2. THE SCOLIAE
CHAPTER 3. A DANGEROUS DIET
CHAPTER 4. THE CETONIA-LARVA
CHAPTER 5. THE PROBLEM OF THE SCOLIAE
CHAPTER 6. THE TACHYTES
CHAPTER 7. CHANGE OF DIET
CHAPTER 8. A DIG AT THE EVOLUTIONISTS
CHAPTER 9. RATIONING ACCORDING TO SEX
CHAPTER 10. THE BEE-EATING PHILANTHUS
CHAPTER 11. THE METHOD OF THE AMMOPHILAE. (For these Sand-wasps, cf
CHAPTER 12. THE METHOD OF THE SCOLIAE
CHAPTER 13. THE METHOD OF THE CALICURGI
CHAPTER 14. OBJECTIONS AND REJOINDERS
INDEX
Отрывок из книги
Jean-Henri Fabre
Published by Good Press, 2021
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Were strength to take precedence over the other zoological attributes, the Scoliae would hold a predominant place in the front rank of the Wasps. Some of them may be compared in size with the little bird from the north, the Golden-crested Wren, who comes to us at the time of the first autumn mists and visits the rotten buds. The largest and most imposing of our sting-bearers, the Carpenter-bee, the Bumble-bee, the Hornet, cut a poor figure beside certain of the Scoliae. Of this group of giants my district possesses the Garden Scolia (S. hortorum, VAN DER LIND), who is over an inch and a half in length and measures four inches from tip to tip of her outspread wings, and the Hemorrhoidal Scolia (S. haemorrhoidalis, VAN DER LIND), who rivals the Garden Scolia in point of size and is distinguished more particularly by the bundle of red hairs bristling at the tip of the abdomen.
A black livery, with broad yellow patches; leathery wings, amber-coloured, like the skin of an onion, and watered with purple reflections; thick, knotted legs, covered with sharp hairs; a massive frame; a powerful head, encased in a hard cranium; a stiff, clumsy gait; a low, short, silent flight: this gives you a concise description of the female, who is strongly equipped for her arduous task. The male, being a mere philanderer, sports a more elegant pair of horns, is more daintily clad and has a more graceful figure, without altogether losing the quality of robustness which is his consort's leading characteristic.
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