The Hunting Wasps 



stringy mass and reaches the sand, where 

 she at once finds the orifice of the passage. 

 I stop her and drive her away a second time. 



Is not the precision with which the Wasp 

 alights just in front of her door, though this 

 be masked in a way so new to her, a proof 

 that sight and memory are not her only 

 guide? What else can there be? Could it 

 be scent? It is very doubtful, for the ema- 

 nations from the droppings have not been 

 able to baffle the insect's perspicacity. Still, 

 let us try a different smell. I happen to 

 have on me, as part of my entomological 

 luggage, a small phial of ether. I sweep 

 away the sheet of manure and replace it by 

 a blanket of moss, not very thick, but spread- 

 ing to a considerable distance; and I pour 

 the contents of my phial on it as soon as I 

 see the Bembex arrive. The ethereal fumes, 

 at first too strong, keep the Wasp away, but 

 only for a moment. Then she alights on 

 the moss, which still exhales a very percepti- 

 ble smell of ether, passes through the ob- 

 stacle and makes her way indoors. The 

 ethereal effluvia put her out no more than 

 did the stercoral effluvia. Something surer 

 than scent tells her where her nest lies. 



The antennae have often been suggested as 

 340 



