WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



reach her goal. At any rate, something was wrong. The 

 spider was left unprotected on the ground while she 

 made a number of long excursions without it, sometimes 

 being gone as much as fifteen minutes. On coming 

 back from these trips she would return to the task of 

 squeezing the legs with such energy and persistence 

 that we expected to see them drop off. Then she would 

 run over the ground in all directions, looking under 

 lumps of earth and stones and poking her head into 

 every little hole. Was she trying to find some suitable 

 spot near at hand to take the place of the one which 

 she had prepared or selected at a distance? 



One hour from the time of her arrival at this place, 

 and two hours from the time that we began to watch 

 her, she flew away and was gone for an unusually long 

 time. We can only suppose that when she absented 

 herself in this way she was visiting the spot to which 

 she wished to convey her booty. On her return she seemed 

 to be filled with a new idea, for after climbing to the 

 top of a tall stout weed that grew near by, she came 

 down, seized the spider, and tried to drag it up the stem. 

 Perhaps she meant to lift it to such an elevation that 

 she could fly with it, but it was too heavy for her and 

 fell after she had raised it to a height of three inches. 

 She then flew away again, and on her return we caught 



234 



