1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 343 



various parts of the body remote from the nerve centres, which can 

 therefore only have been affected by the diffusion of the poison. 



A pang of regret is almost inevitable as one relegates this well- 

 known zoological fairy-story to the ever increasing category of arm- 

 chair fiction. But any such feelings are more than compensated by 

 the marvellous wealth of observations now put before us. It is diffi- 

 cult to determine on which to dwell in the present notice. We select 

 a few of those bearing on the reputed ' sense of direction ' in wasps. 

 It is here shown by numerous instances that these insects do un- 

 doubtedly make a careful study of the locality in which they have 

 made their nests, and that a comparatively slight disturbance of the 

 immediate surroundings at once causes them to be at fault. For 

 example, " Aporus fasciatus entirely lost her way when we broke off 

 the leaf that covered her nest, but found it without trouble when the 

 missing object was replaced." We might quote many more instances 

 of the same character. We may perhaps be allowed to confirm this 

 opinion by an observation of our own. Some five years ago we 

 chanced upon a nest of Vespa sylrcstris built in an old tin at the 

 bottom of a ditch ; while the wasps were in full work the tin was 

 moved about three yards on to the bank of the ditch ; all the wasps 

 that were within the nest at the time of removal noticed as soon as 

 they came to the exit from the nest that their position had been 

 changed, and instead of at once flying off they stood on the edge of 

 the tin for some moments, then took short flights to and fro, gradually 

 increasing their range until they extended to the ditch, the old familiar 

 spot, when they went straight away. It is only necessary to consult 

 the pages of the memoir under notice to be convinced that among 

 wasps, at anyrate, there is no such thing as 'sense of direction,' but 

 that their 'homing' powers are the result of preliminary survey and 

 subsequent memory. 



Of the many wonderful devices and signs of intelligence observed, 

 the most astounding is that related of Ammophila urinaria. Many 

 individuals of this species were carefully watched making their 

 burrows, catching and stinging their caterpillars, conveying them to 

 the subterranean larder and closing the aperture with lumps of earth, 

 small stones, etc., in order to conceal it from the marauding red ants. 

 As among ourselves so too here some individuals are slovenly and 

 careless in their work, others bestow upon it all the assiduous care of 

 the artist. Of these the last one, already remarkable for her perfect 

 workmanship, reached an excellence that is almost incredible were it 

 not supported by such reliable testimony as that of Mr and Mrs 

 Peckham, and further substantiated by an independent observation by 

 Dr S. W. Williston on another individual elsewhere. This wasp 

 having stored her nest proceeded to fill it up with grains of tine dirt, 

 and " picking up a small pebble in her mandibles used it as a hammer 

 in pounding them down with rapid strokes, thus making the spot as 

 hard and firm as the surrounding surface. Before we could recover 

 from our astonishment at this performance she had dropped her stone 

 and was bringing more earth. We threw ourselves down on the 

 ground that not a motion might be lost, and in a moment we saw her 

 pick up the pebble and again pound the earth into place with it, 

 hammering now here and now there until all was level." Such an 



