176 INSECT LIFE xii 



while find out the tricks of the experimenter, and 

 know how to baffle them. But these revolutionaries 

 capable of progress are the few ; the rest, rigid 

 conservatives in manners and customs, are the 

 majority, the crowd. I cannot say whether the 

 hunters of Acrididae show more or less cunning 

 in different districts. 



But the most remarkable thing, and the one to 

 which I want specially to come, is this. After 

 withdrawing the prey of S. albisecta several times 

 from the mouth of the hole, and obliging her to 

 fetch it back, I profited by her descent to the 

 bottom of her den to seize and put the prey where 

 she could not find it. She came up, sought about 

 for a long time, and, when quite convinced that it 

 was not to be found, went down again. A few 

 moments later she reappeared. Was it to return to 

 the chase ? Not the least in the world ; she began 

 to close the hole, and with no temporary cover, such 

 as a small flat stone to mark the orifice, but with a 

 solid mass of carefully collected dust and gravel 

 swept into the passage until it was quite filled. S. 

 albisecta only makes a single cell at the bottom of 

 her well, and puts in but one victim. This one 

 specimen had been caught and dragged to the edge 

 of the hole, and if it was not stored, that was 

 my fault, not her's. The Sphex worked by an in- 

 flexible rule, and according to that rule she com- 

 pleted the work by stopping up the hole even if 

 empty. Here we have an exact repetition of the 

 useless labour of S. occitanica whose dwelling I 

 rifled. 



Fourth experiment. — It is almost impossible to 



