ii] FOSSORES OR DIGGER-WASPS 19 



inside near the top and round the entry. A funnel- 

 shaped depression was thus caused and this she filled 

 up with very small pebbles and bits of dead grass 

 which she brought in her jaws. 



Actions such as these now instanced seem to point 

 to an intelligence higher than mere instinct: the 

 insects adapt their conduct to meet various contin- 

 gencies: they appear to have a definite purpose in 

 view, and that purpose they achieve in a fashion which 

 makes it difficult to deny to them at least some 

 glimmering of the reasoning faculty. Nevertheless 

 among these Pompilids we find very little indication 

 of the amazing cleverness of the social- wasps and 

 bees, and comparatively little of the maternal solici- 

 tude Avhich has in all probability led to the evolution 

 of the complex societies and architectural skill of the 

 higher Aculeates. 



CHAPTER III 



FOSSORES OR DIGGER-WASPS: SPHEGID SECTION 



ANOTHER section of the Fossores, the Sphegidae, 

 contains far more British representatives than does 

 the Pompilid, upwards of ninety different species 

 occurring in this country. The several genera are 

 distinguished by such structural features as the 



22 



