Note 1 — Chapter v · THE THREE DAGGER-THRUSTS

I wished to find out at my own expense if the Sphex’ sting is very painful, this sting which lays low sturdy victims with terrible rapidity. Well, I confess with profound admiration that it is insignificant and bears no comparison, for intensity of pain, with the stings of the irascible Bees and Social Wasps. It hurts so little that, instead of using the forceps, I would not scruple to take in my fingers any live Sphex-wasps that I needed in my experiments. I can say the same of the different Cerceres, of the Philanthi,1 of the Palari, of even the huge Scoliæ,2 whose very view inspires dismay, and, generally speaking, of all the Hunting Wasps that I have been able to observe. I make an exception of the Spider-huntresses, the Pompili;3 and even then their sting is much less painful than the Bees’.