SOLITARY LIFE 60 



the hole above the stone to the top. The operation so 

 far was remarkable enough, but the next procedure was 

 more so. When she had heaped up the dirt to her satis- 

 faction, she again flew away and immediately returned 

 with a smaller pebble, perhaps an eighth of an inch in 

 diameter, and then standing more nearly erect, with 

 the front feet folded beneath her, she pressed down the 

 dust all over and about the opening, smoothing off the 

 surface, and accompanying the action with a peculiar 

 rasping sound. After all this was done, and she 

 spent several minutes each time in thus stamping the 

 earth, so that onlv a keen eve could detect anv abrasion 



*.. / 



of the surface, she laid aside the little pebble and 

 flew away to be gone some minutes. Soon, however, 

 she comes back with a heavy flight, scarcely able to 

 sustain the soft green larva, as long as herself, that 

 she brings. The larva is laid upon the ground, a little 

 to one side, when, going to the spot where she bad 

 industriously labored, by a few rapid strokes she throws 

 out the dust and withdraws the stone cover, laying it 

 aside. Xext, the larva is dragged down the hole, where 

 the wasp remains for a fe\v minutes, afterwards return- 

 ing and closing up the entrance precisely as before. 

 This, we thought, was the end, and supposed that the 

 wasp would now be off about her other affairs, but 

 not so; soon she returns with another larva, precisely 

 like the first, and the whole operation is again repeated. 

 And not only the second time, but again and again, till 

 four or five of the larva- have been stored up for the sus- 

 tainment of her future offspring. Once, while a was]) 

 had gone down the hole with a larva, my friend quietly 

 removed the stone door that she had placed near the 



