The Hunting Wasps 



her sweeping, but never going to any depth 

 and making no attempt to bury herself un- 

 derground. What is her object in thus la- 

 bouring entirely on the surface? It would 

 be impossible to tell from this first glance; 

 but, after spending many days with my be- 

 loved Wasps and grouping together the scat- 

 tered facts resulting from my observations, 

 I seem to catch a glimpse of the reason for 

 the present proceedings. 



The Wasp's nest is certainly there, a few 

 \ inches below the ground; in a little cell dug 

 in the cool, firm sand lies an egg, perhaps 

 a grub for which the mother caters from 

 day to day, bringing it Flies, the unvarying 

 food of the Bembex in their first state. The 

 mother has to be able at any moment to 

 enter the nest, as she flies up carrying in her 

 legs the nurseling's daily portion of game, 

 even as the bird of prey enters its eyrie with 

 the food for Its young in its talons. But, 

 while the bird returns to a home on some 

 inaccessible ledge of rock, with no dlflSculty 

 to overcome but that of the weight and en- 

 cumbrance of the captured prey, the Bembex 

 has each time to undertake rough miner's 

 work and open up anew a gallery blocked 

 and closed by the mere fact that the sand 

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