AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS 



instance of the final closing of the nest was interme- 

 diate between these two, the work occupying twenty 

 minutes. The wasp first put a plug well down, then 

 dropped in several large pellets, brushed in a quantity 

 of fine earth, and finally smoothed the surface over. 



We had another much less worthy example, one, in- 

 deed, that went to the extreme of carelessness. We first 

 saw her in the morning carrying her caterpillar across 

 the field. She frequently dropped it and ran or flew to a 

 little distance, and when she took it again the venter 

 was sometimes up and sometimes down, whichever 

 way it happened. Her nest was a very poor affair just 

 beneath the surface, and after the caterpillar was carried 

 in, it was visible from above. She filled the hole with 

 loose particles of earth and then scratched the surface 

 of the ground a little in a perfunctory sort of way, as 

 different as possible from the painstaking labor that 

 we had been accustomed to in her sisters. That afternoon 

 we opened the nest and removed its contents. The next 

 morning we saw this wasp bringing home her second 

 caterpillar. She was much puzzled and disturbed at the 

 destruction of her nest, and hunted for it for an hour 

 and a half, leaving the caterpillar on the ground near 

 by. We could not help feeling sorry that we had inter- 

 rupted the contented routine of her life. She finally gave 



37 



