n] FOSSORES OR DIGGER-WASPS 15 



Botli species provision their burrows with spiders 

 and take great pains both in preventing the maraud- 

 ing ants, which abound on such heaths, from stealing 

 their prey and also in concealing the position of the 

 burrow when once it is properly stocked and the egg 

 laid. P. viaticus is a handsome red and black wasp 

 nearly half an inch long: it appears to love sandy 

 patches, such as those thrown up by rabbits, in the 

 midst of heather. The spider which is hunted by 

 this sand-wasp is a large fat-bodied creature several 

 times heavier than the huntress herself. The burrow 

 is always made of such dimensions as to admit the 

 plump body of the victim, and appears unduly wide 

 in comparison with the slender abdomen of P. viaticus. 

 This wasp appears to indulge in fencing matches by 

 way of practice for her encounters with the formid- 

 able spider which she ventures to attack. Frequently 

 two females note this is no love-dance for both are 

 females may be seen to settle down face to face on 

 a patch of sand, to move round and round as though 

 searching for an opportunity, to lean over first on one 

 and then on the other side, and from time to time to 

 lash round with their wonderfully flexible abdomen 

 as though delivering a stab from the venomous sting. 

 In their actual encounters with the spiders it behoves 

 them ever to face the enemy, for the poison fangs of 

 the spider are situated at the head end, and it is thus 

 from that quarter that danger threatens. The wasp 



