16 THE SOLITARY WASPS. 



ond part of the process being omitted. Touching it in front causes 

 the posterior legs to ojjen and close, while the posterior half of the 

 body is thrown violently to one side. 



August 18, 9 A. M. The caterpillar jerks up its posterior half with- 

 out being touched. When stimulated it is so violent that we are con- 

 cerned lest the egg be dislodged. 



August IS, 10 A. iM. We have just secured the caterpillar which 

 should have completed the provisioning of this nest, the wasp having 

 deserted it on finding that her burrow had been disturbed. This one 

 has been stung in all the segments since it cannot move the posterior 

 half about, nor wrig-gle as the first one does. Its neck, however, has 

 not been malaxed, as the mouth parts open and shut when touched, 

 and hold anything that is j)laced in them. The first caterpillar stung 

 by the wasp had been so malaxed that the mouth parts were paralyzed. 



August 19. The first caterpillar is still lively, while the second 

 shows but little movement. We put both, with the e.gg, into alcohol. 



No. 79. August 31. At eleven o'clock this morning we saw an 

 urnaria storing a short, fat, brown caterpillar. At five in the afternoon 

 we opened the nest and found not only the one that wc had seen taken 

 in but also a longer, thinner, green one. Upon this one was a wasp 

 larva about one day old, which shows that, in all probability, three 

 days must have elapsed between the storing of the first and second 

 caterpillars. Besides the wasp larva, which has been attacked by 

 something and looks sickly, there are, upon the unfortunate green 

 caterpillar, three small parasitic larvae which all look plump and 

 healthy. In spite of being obliged to furnish food to all these creatures 

 the caterpillar is still alive although a good deal shrunken and the 

 worse for wear. The one put into the nest today is alive but only 

 moves when stimulated. 



Sep^tember 1. Both caterpillars are alive. The wasp larva is dead, 

 but the parasites are still feeding on the green one and are doing 

 well. 



September 2. Both caterpillars are alive. The green one is turning 

 yellow at the eighth segment. It is on this segment that the three 

 parasites are fixed, on the venter between the fourth and fifth pairs of 

 feet. They are growing fast. The brown caterpillar has also a larva 

 of some kind, which hatched today. It is placed on the right side be- 

 tween the fourth and fifth rings, just behind the third pair of feet. 



September 3, 9 A. M. The green caterpillar is dead and has turned 

 black. Onlj' one parasite is to be seen and that one is boring into the 

 body of its host. The brown caterpillar is still alive. Its parasite is 

 large and is eating fast. 



September 4. The parasite inside the green caterpillar is still eat^ 



