170 The Book of Bugs. 



And it is no mere unthinking instinct that teaches them 

 where to find the nest again. They take the bearings of 

 the spot, and when they return they knock on the ground 

 till they find the place that sounds hollow. They are very 

 clever about catching spiders, too. They slip noiselessly 

 around back of the entrance and wiggle their antennae 

 before the door. Out pops the spider and in pops the 

 sting. Then the wasp tries again. There may be more 

 big spiders inside. No? Coast clear, eh? Then she 

 goes in, kills all the young spiders, and carries them off. 



A caterpillar rolled in a leaf is fairly safe, but the smart 

 wasp cuts a hole in one end of the roll. That does not 

 get her to the caterpillar, so she goes to the other end of 

 the roll and makes a fuss. The caterpillar, anxious to 

 escape, crawls out of the opening, which is what the wasp 

 wants, and she stings it. If it is too big to carry at one 

 load, she cuts it in two and makes another trip. If her 

 prey is where the ants can get at it, she does not always 

 find it when she comes back, so she often hangs it up in 

 the fork of a weed out of the way while she digs her 

 burrow. 



A wasp was observed hanging by one foot to a twig 

 and munching away at a fly, which it held in its two front 

 feet. Its other legs and wings stuck out all ways for 

 Sunday. Its jaws and antennae kept in rapid motion, and 

 as the fly was turned over for the juicy spots it reminded 

 the observer of a man in holiday mood swinging in a 

 hammock and eating an apple. 



I think wasps are pretty close to the " cinther of the 

 wurruld." 



