Why, for example, when the victim which has just been paralysed or rendered insensible by stinging contains in the stomach a delicious meal, semi-liquid or liquid in consistency, should the hunter scruple to rob the half-living body and force it to disgorge without injuring the quality of its flesh?
There may well be robbers of the moribund, attracted not by their flesh but by the appetising contents of their stomachs.
As a matter of fact there are such, and they are numerous.

In the first rank we may cite that hunter of the domestic bee, _Philanthus aviporus_ (Latreille).

For a long time I suspected Philanthus of committing such acts of brigandage for her own benefit, having many times surprised her gluttonously licking the honey-smeared mouth of the bee; I suspected that her hunting of the bee was not undertaken entirely for the benefit of her larvae.

The suspicion was worth experimental confirmation.

At the time I was interested in another question also: I wanted to study, absolutely at leisure, the methods by which the various predatory species dealt with their victims.