I have seen her adopt two methods.

In the first, more usual than the other, the bee is lying on the ground, upon its back, and Philanthus, mouth to mouth and abdomen to abdomen, clasps it with her six legs, while she seizes its neck in her mandibles.

The abdomen is then curved forward and gropes for a moment for the desired spot in the upper part of the thorax, which it finally reaches.

The sting plunges into the victim, remains in the wound for a moment, and all is over.
Without loosing the victim, which is still tightly clasped, the murderer restores her abdomen to the normal position and holds it pressed against that of the bee.
By the second method Philanthus operates standing upright.

Resting on the hinder feet and the extremity of the folded wings, she rises proudly to a vertical position, holding the bee facing her by her four anterior claws.