AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS. 19 



begins to carry the eartli to a little distance from the nest. In 

 ■doing this she backs up to the edge of the opening and flying a 

 little way, gives a sort of flirt which throws the pellet that she 

 carries in her mandibles to a distance. She then alights where 

 she is and pauses a moment before she runs back to the hole, or, 

 in some cases, darts back on the wing. We watched the process 

 of nest-making five times during the summer. In the first in- 

 stance Ammophila, having made her excavation, ran off to a 

 distance and after some search returned with a good sized lump 

 ■of earth. This she laid over the opening which was now entirely 

 hidden. She then flew to the bean patch close by, but after ten 

 minutes she came back and looked at her nest. It was so neatly 

 covered as to be almost indistinguishable, but to this fastidious 

 little creature something seemed lacking. She pulled away the 

 cover, carried out three or four more loads, and then began to 

 search for another piece for closing. After a time she came 

 liurrying back with a lump of earth, but when close to the nest 

 she concluded that it would not do, dropped it, and ran off in 

 another direction. Presently she found one which fitted into the 

 hole exactly, and after placing it she brought a much smaller 

 piece which she put above and to one side. She then stood 

 back and surveyed the whole and it seemed to us that we could 

 read pride and satisfaction in her mien. She then flew away 

 and we supposed that that stage of the work was certainly com- 

 pleted. Upon coming back two hours later, however, we found 

 that she had been trying some more improvements, as a number 

 of little pellets had been piled up over the nest. This wasp, by 

 the way, never succeeded in finding a caterpillar, since when we 

 opened the nest a few days later it was still empty. Perhaps 

 she came to some untimely end. 



Of the other wasps that we saw making a temporary closure 

 of their nests, one wedgied a good sized stone deep down into 

 the neck of the burrow and then filled the space above, eolidly, 

 with smaller stones and earth. Another placed two lumps of 

 earth just below the surface of the ground, filled the opening 

 with pellets loosely thrown in, and then kicked some light dust 



