SPHEX, the ICHEUMON WASP or SAVAGE; a genus of insects belonging to the order of hymenoptera. The mouth is armed with jaws, but without any tongue. The wings of both sexes are extended without folds, and laid horizontally on the back. The sting is sharp, and concealed within the abdomen. The genus is divided into two families. 1. Those in which the abdomen is petiolated, or joined to the thorax by a stalk. 2. Those in which the abdomen is subessile, or nearly of an equal size through its whole length. The manner of living is different in the various species, and so is the general form of the body and their haunts: but though the method of life be utterly different, yet the same manners appear innate and inherent in all. They agree in being the fiercest of all flies: they will attack insects much larger than themselves, and this whether they be defenceless or armed, as they are provided with a sting. The strength in all this savage kind is great; their jaws are hard and sharp, and in their sting lies a poison suddenly fatal to the creatures with whom they engage. The savage seizes hardly on the animal he attacks, and gives a stroke of amazing force; after which he falls down, as if himself were killed, but it is to rest from his fatigue and enjoy his victory. He keeps a steady eye on the creature he has struck till it dies, which happens in a few minutes, and then drags it to the nest to
feed the young. The number of other insects they destroy is scarce to be conceived; the mouth of their cave is like that of a giant in the days of yore, straggled with the remains of prey. The eyes, the filament that serves as a brain, and a small part of the contents of the body, are all the savage eats, and will kill fifty for a meal.