Vol. xxx I ENTOMOLOGICAL : : 



habits of the wasps that build their nest-; in burrow-. Mow they go 

 about this, how they provide food fur their youn.tr, how they find their 

 well-concealed nest again, are all described in the most interesting 

 manner. Marvelous instances of place memory, < of instinct. 



are mentioned, also ingenious experin on the hominc: 



the common paper-nest wasp. The book is the result of four years' 

 out-of-door study, generally within a radius of thirty miles of St. Louis, 

 of these wasps "in their natural haunts while pursuing their occupat' 

 in their own ways." One of the most interesting chapter-, is that on 

 "Some Bembicine Wasps," in which are described the nesting an<l social 

 habits of the western burrowing ; Bembix nubilipennis. The pe- 

 culiar nuptial or sun dance is vividly pictured in words. A colon \ 

 these wasps nested year after year in a bald and bare space in a field 

 which the boys of the neighborhood kept packed hard in pursuit of 

 their weekly baseball game. Even though suddenly interrupted in 

 their sun dance or nest building, the wasps returned at the first oppor- 

 tunity. How the mother attends the nest and her young until it- 

 maturity, and other minute details in the habits of this wasp are men- 

 tioned, showing close and patient observation. The chapter on pom- 

 pilid wasps, especially ' as regards fiunpiloidcs tropicus, is 

 less interesting. Here are described the peculiar methods of carrying 

 the prey, erratic actions during excavation of the burrow-, and the 

 constant guard against parasites. The patience of tin ol servers is 

 somewhat realized when reading this chapter, especially that part 

 relating to the tantalizing actions of Priocnemis pompilius. Other 

 chapters describing the habits of some fly-catching wasps, bee-killing 

 wasps, the muddaubers which build their mud nests in the gables and 

 on the rafters of our buildings, wood-boring wasps, the sand-loving 

 ammophila, and the mining eumenid wasps, are all of absorbing inter- 

 est. The nesting habits of the bun; ; lera in the genera 

 Alysoti, Tachysphcx, and particularly I'rlououyx atratnin and thoi 

 are minutely described. Here is told how the cow-bird was]), .V; 

 iiiiiciiictus, watches thoinac make and .supply her nest and, when it is 

 sealed and camouflaged, burrous down <! thomae's egg and lays 

 her own. In the last chapter, on general considerations, the authors 

 comment on the evidences deduced from their observations. They si 

 that "the data secured give evidence of four very definite attitudes 

 [types?] of behavior: I. That there are very definite and iron-clad 

 instincts. 2. That, despite these instincts, which arc constant in each 

 species, there is much variation in the behavior of t' 

 3. That there is a display of the expresoon of emotions in 

 tures. 4. That, in many instances, there is much aptitude for i 

 display of memory, profiting \>: < perience and wh.. 

 tioiial conduct." E. T. Cri . Ju. 



