The Hunting Wasps 



the conclusion that these Wasps belong not 

 to the present but to the previous year; that 

 they left their cells at the usual time, in June 

 and July, got through the winter and began to 

 make their nests as soon as the spring came. 

 In a word, they are hibernating insects. 

 And this conclusion is fully borne out by ex- 

 periment. 



If we will but search patiently in the per- 

 pendicular banks of earth or sand facing due 

 south, especially those in which generations 

 of different honey-gathering Bees have suc- 

 ceeded one another year after year and 

 riddled the wall with a labyrinth of tunnels 

 until it looks like an enormous sponge, we are 

 almost sure, in midwinter, to find the Hairy 

 Ammophila snugly ensconced in the shelters 

 provided by the sunny bank, alone or in 

 groups of three or four, idly awaiting the 

 arrival of the fine weather. I have been able 

 to give myself as often as I wished this little 

 treat of renewing my acquaintance, amid the 

 gloom and cold of winter, with the pretty 

 Wasp who enlivens the greensward beside 

 the paths at the first notes of the Bunting and 

 the Cricket. When there is no wind and the 

 sun is shining brightly, the warmth-loving 

 insect comes to its threshold to bask lux- 

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