Chapter IV 



SEVERAL LITTLE WASPS 



IN a search for the nest of one of our garden wasps 

 we found, in the woods beyond the fence, an old, 

 weather-beaten stump which was riddled with holes 

 both large and small. The large ones were evidently 

 the passage-ways of ants, and were in constant use. The 

 small ones seemed to be uninhabited ; but thinking they 

 might contain the nests we were in search of, and hop- 

 ing that if we watched long enough we might see our 

 wasps flitting in and out, we settled ourselves close by. 

 We were resolved to stay as long as was necessary, and 

 we blessed the fate that made it our duty to sit on the 

 grass under the shade of a wide-spreading oak rather 

 than in the distressing glare and heat of the garden ; for 

 this was on the tenth of July, and the weather was what 

 the farmers call "seasonable." 



Twenty, thirty, forty minutes passed. Our eyes ached 

 with persistent gazing, and we had nearly made up our 

 minds that the likely-looking little holes were unten- 

 anted, when lo! a tiny wasp, carrying something which 



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