第36章 THE TACHYTES(7)

The Wasp continues to oscillate behind the Mantis, in order to avoid the formidable grappling-engine; then, suddenly, when she judges that the other is baffled by the rapidity of her manoeuvres, she hurls herself upon the insect's back, seizes its neck with her mandibles, winds her legs round its thorax and hastily delivers a first thrust of the sting, to the front, at the root of the lethal legs. Complete success! The deadly shears fall powerless. The operator then lets herself slip as she might slide down a pole, retreats along the Mantis' back and, going a trifle lower, less than a finger's breadth, she stops and paralyses, this time without hurrying herself, the two pairs of hind-legs. It is done: the patient lies motionless; only the tarsi quiver, twitching in their last convulsions. The sacrificer brushes her wings for a moment and polishes her antennae by passing them through her mouth, an habitual sign of tranquillity returning after the emotions of the conflict; she seizes the game by the neck, takes it in her legs and flies away with it.

What do you say to it all? Do not the scientist's theory and the insect's practice agree most admirably? Has not the animal accomplished to perfection what anatomy and physiology enabled us to foretell? Instinct, a gratuitous attribute, an unconscious inspiration, rivals knowledge, that most costly acquisition. What strikes me most is the sudden recoil after the first thrust of the sting. The Hairy Ammophila, operating on her caterpillar, likewise recoils, but progressively, from one segment to the next. Her deliberate surgery might receive a quasi-explanation if we ascribe it to a certain uniformity. With the Tachytes and the Mantis this paltry argument escapes us. Here are no lancet-pricks regularly distributed; on the contrary, the operating-method betrays a lack of symmetry which would be inconceivable, if the organization of the patient did not serve as a guide. The Tachytes therefore knows where her prey's nerve-centres lie; or, to speak more correctly, she behaves as though she knew.

This science which is unconscious of itself has not been acquired, by her and by her race, through experiments perfected from age to age and habits transmitted from one generation to the next. It is impossible, I am prepared to declare a hundred times, a thousand times over, it is absolutely impossible to experiment and to learn an art when you are lost if you do not succeed at the first attempt. Don't talk to me of atavism, of small successes increasing by inheritance, when the novice, if he misdirected his weapon, would be crushed in the trap of the two saws and fall a prey to the savage Mantis! The peaceable Locust, if missed, protests against the attack with a few kicks; the carnivorous Mantis, who is in the habit of feasting on Wasps far more powerful than the Tachytes, would protest by eating the bungler; the game would devour the hunter, an excellent catch. Mantis-paralysing is a most perilous trade and admits of no half-successes; you have to excel in it from the first, under pain of death. No, the surgical art of the Tachytes is not an acquired art. Whence then does it come, if not from the universal knowledge in which all things move and have their being!

What would happen if, in exchange for her Praying Mantis, I were to give the Tachytes a young Grasshopper? In rearing insects at home, I have already noted that the larvae put up very well with this diet; and I am surprised that the mother does not follow the example of the Tarsal Tachytes and provide her family with a skewerful of Locusts instead of the risky prey which she selects. The diet would be practically the same; and the terrible shears would no longer be a danger. With such a patient would her operating-method remain the same; should we again see a sudden recoil after the first stab under the neck; or would the vivisector modify her art in conformity with the unfamiliar nervous organization?

This second alternative is highly improbable. It would be nonsense to expect to see the paralyser vary the number and the distribution of the wounds according to the genus of the victim. Supremely skilled in the task that has fallen to its lot, the insect knows nothing further.

The first alternative seems to offer a certain chance and deserves a test.

I offer the Tachytes, deprived of her Mantis, a small Grasshopper, whose hind-legs I amputate to prevent his leaping. The disabled Acridian jogs along the sand. The Wasp flies round him for a moment, casts a contemptuous glance upon the cripple and withdraws without attempting action. Let the prey offered be large or small, green or grey, short or long, rather like the Mantis or quite different, all my efforts miscarry. The Tachytes recognizes in an instant that this is no business of hers; this is not her family game; she goes off without even honouring my Grasshoppers with a peck of her mandibles.

This stubborn refusal is not due to gastronomical causes. I have stated that the larvae reared by my own hands feed on young Grasshoppers as readily as on young Mantes; they do not seem to perceive any difference between the two dishes; they thrive equally on the game chosen by me and that selected by the mother. If the mother sets no value on the Grasshopper, what then can be the reason of her refusal? I can see only one: this quarry, which is not hers, perhaps inspires her with fear, as any unknown thing might do; the ferocious Mantis does not alarm her, but the peaceable Grasshopper terrifies her. And then, if she were to overcome her apprehensions, she does not know how to master the Acridian and, above all, how to operate upon him. To every man his trade, to every Wasp her own way of wielding her sting. Modify the conditions ever so slightly; and these skilful paralysers are at an utter loss.