THE BUG-HUNTERS. 89 



after bringing in three or four bugs they would disappear and 

 nothing would be seen of them for five or six hours at a stretch. 

 After keeping these two nests under observation for a week we 

 excavated them both but failed entirely to follow the tunnel and 

 found none of the bugs that had been taken in. 



This experience with imicolor took place in the middle of 

 July and we saw nothing more of the species for six weeks. 

 On the first day of September, however, one alighted almost at 

 our feet on the bare ground of the garden. She was much 

 smaller than the one that we had seen before, and the big, flat 

 bug that she carried was inconveniently broad and stretched 

 her legs apart as she ran about with it. After a moment she 

 went into a hole which did not in the least resemble the nests 

 of our earlier acquaintances, being much smaller and running in 

 •obliquely, with no earth heaped around. This little wasp proved 

 to be one of the fearless kind and went on wdth her work with- 

 out noticing us. She, too,, had fits of industry. She sometimes 

 found a bug in ten minutes, but was usually gone from tliirty 

 to forty when on a hunting expedition. After working for an 

 hour or two she would amuse herself for the rest of the day, 

 sometimes staying out until sunset and sometimes going to bed 

 at half past one or two o'clock and remaining within until nine 

 on the following morning. The nest was invariably left open 

 when she went away but was always closed at night, and some- 

 times, also, when she went in for an hour's rest in the day time. 



After we had watched this small miicoJo?' for two days we 

 opened the nest but found only one bug and no egg. On the 

 next morning at nine o'clock she had nearly finished a new nest 

 close to the old one. She did no hunting during the morning 

 but made several excursions, and on returning from one of these 

 spent twelve minutes in searching for the new nest, coming 

 back again and again to the spot where the old one had been. 

 She began to hunt at one in the afternoon and took in three 

 bugs between that time and three o'clock, when she retired for 

 the night. One of these bugs was laid down at the entrance 

 of the nest while the wasp entered, turned around and then 



