AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS 



circle above it, perhaps to take bearings, or spend the 

 time in cleaning herself off, stroking and smoothing 

 every part of her body with the utmost care and deliber- 

 ation. Her stops were so frequent and so lengthy that 

 nearly an hour was occupied in going about twenty-five 

 feet. When, at last, the nest was reached, the plug was 

 removed from the entrance and the caterpillar dragged 

 in, but almost immediately the wasp came out back- 

 wards with the point of an egg projecting from the ex- 

 tremity of her abdomen. She ran around and around the 

 nest in a distracted way four or five times and then went 

 back, dragged the caterpillar out, and carried it away. 

 The egg came out further and further, and finally 

 dropped on the ground and was lost. The wasp, carry- 

 ing the caterpillar, led us a long dance, in a great semi- 

 circle over the field, coming back to the nest at last. 

 Instead of going in, however, she was about to start off 

 on another tour when we took her prey from her and 

 placed it in the nest. The wasp remained in the neigh- 

 borhood for over an hour, but finally disappeared. The 

 nest was not closed, and when we dug it up on the fol- 

 lowing day it contained only the caterpillar that we had 

 put in. 



We could usually enter into the feelings of the Ammo- 

 philes and understand the meaning of their actions ; but 



47 



