THE SOLITARY WASPS. 



CHAPTER I. 



AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS. 



Plates II., fig. 2; III.; IV.; V.; VIIL, figs. 1-4. 



Most graceful and attractive of all the wasps — "taille effil^e 

 tourmire svelte,'' as Fabre describes them, the Ammophiles, of 

 all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the first place in our af- 

 fections. Not so beautiful as the blue Pelopaens nor so indus- 

 trious as the little red-girdled Trypo.ryJon, their intelligence, 

 their distinct individuality, and their obliging tolerance of our 

 society make them an unfailing source of interest. They are, 

 moreover, the most remarkable of all genera in their stinging 

 habits, and few things have given us deeper pleasure than our 

 success in following the activities and penetrating the secrets of 

 their lives. In our neighborhood we have but two species of 

 Ammophila, urnaria Cresson (PL II., fig. 2), and gracilis Cres- 

 son, both of them being very slender bodied wasps of about an 

 inch in length, gracilis all black, and irrnaria with a red band 

 around the front end of the abdomen. With two exceptions 

 our observations relate to 'urnaria. 



During the earlier part of the summer we had often seen 

 these wasps feeding upon the nectar of flowers, especially upon 

 that of the sorrel of which they are particularly fond, but at 

 that time we gave them but passing notice. One bright morn- 

 ing in the middle of July, however, we came upon one that was 

 so evidently hunting, and hunting in earnest, that we gave up 

 everything else to follow her. The ground was covered, more 

 or less thickly, with patches of purslane, and it was under these 

 weeds that our Ammophila was eagerly searching for her prey. 

 After thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to 

 another, running three or four steps and then bounding ai 



