20 NOVEMBER 1993, Page 44

Advanced Biology: The Jewel Wasp and Her Cockroach

Once I watched an emerald, quaint oriental solitaire, rococo mother-to-be, stab a dirt-scuttler.

Saw her poison the eyesore, jostle him to a crevice, stable him with her yellow egg, in nodding braindeath.

Saw her child hatch and grow as its quivering larder died to a shell packed with wasp-shit.

I saw an emergent emerald, young oriental solitaire, speckless virgin, expand its wings, and fly in praise of its creator, its providence, its light of the world.

Ted Burford