The Hunting Wasps 



their nests. Others, either because they are 

 tired or because they have finished their hard 

 task, seem to rest and poHsh their antennae 

 and wings under the natural eaves that most 

 frequently protect their dwelling; or else they 

 remain motionless at the mouth of the hole, 

 merely showing their wide, square faces, 

 striped black and yellow. Others, lastly, flit 

 gravely humming on the neighbouring 

 kermes-oak-bushes, where the males, always 

 on the watch near the burrows in course of 

 construction, are not slow to join them. Cou- 

 ples form, often disturbed by the arrival of a 

 second male, who strives to supplant the 

 happy possessor. The humming becomes 

 threatening, brawls take place and often the 

 two males roll in the dust until one of them 

 acknowledges the superiority of his rival. 

 Near by, the female awaits the outcome of 

 the struggle with indifference; she finally ac- 

 cepts the male whom the chances of the con- 

 test bestow upon her; and the couple fly out 

 of sight in search of peace and quiet on some 

 distant brushwood. Here the part played 

 by the males ends. Only half the size of 

 the females and nearly as numerous, they 

 prowl all around the burrows, but never enter 

 and never take part in the laborious mining- 



22 



