If some dexterous scalpel should ever investigate this problem, I can recommend another, even more singular than that of the Empusa, the Bat and the bird.

I refer to the attitude of certain Wasps and Bees during the night's rest.
An Ammophila with red fore-legs (A.holosericea) is plentiful in my enclosure towards the end of August and selects a certain lavender-border for her dormitory.

At dusk, especially after a stifling day, when a storm is brewing, I am sure to find the strange sleeper settled there.

Never was more eccentric attitude adopted for a night's rest! The mandibles bite right into the lavender-stem.

Its square shape supplies a firmer hold than a round stalk would do.