ISELY: EUMENID^ OF KANSAS. 297 



investigations proved this wasp to be 0. hildagi. The follow- 

 ing observations were made on the afternoon of July 6 after 

 4:30 o'clock. 



This mother wasp was busy storing her nest with cater- 

 pillars when I observed her. She used the same caterpillar 

 that was the prey of 0. papauorum. It was very small in pro- 

 poition to the wasp and was handled with apparent ease. 



The wasp always flew directly to the burrow, carrying the 

 caterpillar, ventral side up, under her body. She grasped the 

 caterpillar by the neck with her mandibles, and also held it 

 about the abdomen with her middle pair of legs. When she 

 reached the burrow she hastily thrust the caterpillar ahead 

 of her, holding one of its last segments with her mandibles as 

 she disappeared. 



After she had stored eight caterpillars in my presence, 

 Madam Wasp returned from her ninth trip with a pellet of 

 mud, evidently from the creek. She worked inside the burrow 

 five minutes, backed out, paused a moment at the entrance, 

 and went in again. Again she came out and reentered without 

 taking wing. When she came out the next time she stood on 

 the edge of the burrow and tried to back in, presumably to 

 oviposit. But she failed to back in, for .she thrust the tip of 

 her abdomen against the side of the cliff instead of into the 

 burrow. 



Then followed the most ludicrous performance I had ever 

 known a eumenid to be responsible for. Eleven times in suc- 

 cession this wasp stood with all six legs on the rim of the 

 burrow entrance and tried to curve her abdomen under her, 

 apparently to thrust it into the burrow. Instead of doing 

 this, each time she thrust the tip of her abdomen against the 

 cliff side at the burrow's edge. After each failure she would 

 turn around and peer wonderingly into the burrow to see what 

 the trouble might be. Sometimes she would go half way into 

 the burrow. After each investigation she would again poise 

 on the rim of the burrow and again try to back into it. 



Her twelfth attempt was partially successful. She would 

 have succeeded had she pushed the tips of her wings into the 

 burrow as well as her abdomen; but one of them caught in 

 the edge. She could back into the burrow only to the point of 

 the wing's attachment on her thorax. Three minutes of 

 struggling failed to free the wing or to bend it. She came out 



