Note 3 — Chapter XI · THE COMMON WASP (continued)

With the Hylotoma-larva the Wasps did not use the sting, which would have so promptly put an end to all resistance. Perhaps they deemed the wretched grub unworthy of ceremonial death. The expeditious method of the poisoned dagger appears to be reserved for great occasions. Thus perished the Bumble-bee and the Polistes; thus will perish a larva of the Scalary Saperda,3 an imposing grub extracted that moment from under the bark of a dead cherry-tree.