WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



stroke laid her low. We attended scores of wasps as they 

 hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, 

 we scrambled along on our hands and knees in our des- 

 perate endeavors to keep them in view, sometimes with 

 our eyes upon the wasps themselves and sometimes pur- 

 suing their shadows, which, like those of coming events, 

 were cast before ; and yet they escaped us. After we had 

 kept one in sight for an hour or more, some sudden flight 

 would carry her far away, and all our labor was lost. 



At last, however, our day came. We were doing a 

 little hunting on our own account, hoping to find some 

 larvae which we could drop in view of the wasps and thus 

 lead them to display their powers, when we saw an 

 urnaria fly up from the ground to the underside of a 

 bean leaf and knock down a small green caterpillar. 

 Breathless with an excitement which will be understood 

 by those who have tasted the joy of such a moment, we 

 hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground 

 was bare, we were close by and could see every motion 

 distinctly. Nothing more perfect could have been 

 desired. 



The wasp attacked at once, but was rudely repulsed, 

 the caterpillar rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and 

 with the most violent contortions of the whole body. 

 Again and again its adversary descended, but failed to 



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