AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS 



female maintains a longer connection with her offspring, 

 not bringing all the provision at once, but returning to 

 feed the larva as it grovi^s, and leaving the nest perma- 

 nently only when the grub has spun its cocoon. The 

 males never acquire this interest, so admirable for the 

 development of character, and aid little, if at all, in 

 the care of the family. The egg develops in from one to 

 three days into a footless, maggot-like creature which 

 feeds upon the store provided for it, increasing rapidly 

 in size, and entering the pupal stage in from three days 

 to two weeks. In the cocoon it passes through its final 

 metamorphosis, emerging as a perfect insect, perhaps in 

 two or three weeks, or, in many cases, after the winter 

 months have passed and summer has come again. 



Most graceful and attractive of all the wasps — " taille 

 ejjilee, tournure svelte,'^ as Fabre describes them, the Am- 

 mophiles, of all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the 

 first place in our affections. Not so beautiful as the blue 

 Pelopaeus, nor so industrious as the little red-girdled Try- 

 poxylon, 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, 

 being supposed to use the nicest surgical skill in para- 

 lyzing their caterpillars ; and few things have given us 



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