WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



We have seen two females digging their nests at a little 

 distance apart, one of which was repeatedly attacked by 

 the other, although she did nothing to provoke the ag- 

 gressor. They are certainly very unneighborly, and have 

 no idea of living in harmony. When flying in a threaten- 

 ing manner, either at us or at each other, they have a 

 way of wagging their abdomens violently from side to 

 side in a way well calculated to inspire terror. 



In warm sunny weather spinolae works industriously 

 through the middle of the day, and seems determined to 

 provide abundantly, not only for her own offspring, but 

 for any unbidden guests that it may be her fate to care 

 for. She never works more than four or five hours a day, 

 however, and in unfavorable weather she does not work 

 at all. On going over to the island one cloudy morning 

 to spend some hours in watching the Bembex activities, 

 we found the spot quiet and lifeless. No one seeing it for 

 the first time would have dreamed of the multitudes of 

 living creatures beneath his feet. The nests seemed to 

 be all closed, but on peering curiously about we found 

 one on sloping ground, in the suburbs of the colony, of 

 which the door was open. Just within was the proprietor 

 gazing out on the landscape, as she is shown in the illus- 

 tration. She seemed to be leaning on her elbows, and 

 her face, enlivened by two great goggle eyes, had an 



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