AN ISLAND SETTLEMENT 



fly, the wings of which stood out on both sides very con- 

 spicuously. This made her an especial mark for her 

 unprincipled relatives. Half a dozen of them chased her 

 about, like chickens pursuing one of their number that 

 has found a worm. She circled and settled, and circled 

 and swooped around for five or six minutes, continually 

 pursued and attacked by the robbers, and quite unable 

 to get into her nest. At last, curious to see what she was 

 carrying, we made her drop her load, and secured it for 

 ourselves. We found it to be a horse fly, quite dead, but 

 showing no marks of violence. It was not wasted, for 

 we afterward fed it to one of our wasp nurslings at home. 

 At another time we saw one wasp attack another that 

 was bringing in a fly. In the struggle that ensued the 

 owner lost her booty, as the two rolled over and over on 

 the ground, and as they parted it was seized by the thief. 

 They clinched again, and rolled on the ground as before, 

 and this time the fly was recovered by the rightful owner. 

 At this point, thinking that perhaps one of the wasps 

 was a male, and that this might be their style of court- 

 ship, we seized both of them; whereupon the fly was 

 dropped, and the two wasps turned their attention to 

 attacking us. Both proved to be females. Not only do 

 the Bembecids fight in this way for the possession of 

 their prey — they quarrel even without apparent cause. 



129 



