1898] SOME NEW BOOKS 343 
various parts of the body remote from the nerve centres, which can 
therefore only have been affected by the diffusion of the poison. 
A pang of regret is almost inevitable as one relegates this well- 
known zoological fairy-story to the ever increasing category of arm- 
chair fiction. But any such feelings are more than compensated by 
the marvellous wealth of observations now put before us. It is diffi- 
cult to determine on which to dwell in the present notice. We select 
a few of those bearing on the reputed ‘sense of direction’ in wasps. 
It is here shown by numerous instances that these insects do un- 
doubtedly make a careful study of the locality in which they have 
made their nests, and that a comparatively slight disturbance of the 
immediate surroundings at once causes them to be at fault. For 
example, “ Aporus fasciatus entirely lost her way when we broke off 
the leaf that covered her nest, but found it without trouble when the 
missing object was replaced.” We might quote many more instances 
of the same character. We may perhaps be allowed to confirm this 
opinion by an observation of our own. Some five years ago we 
chanced upon a nest of Vespa sylvestris built in an old tin at the 
bottom of a ditch; while the wasps were in full work the tin was 
moved about three yards on to the bank of the ditch; all the wasps 
that were within the nest at the time of removal noticed as soon as 
they came to the exit from the.nest that their position had been 
changed, and instead of at once flying off they stood on the edge of 
the tin for some moments, then took short flights to and fro, gradually 
increasing their range until they extended to the ditch, the old familiar 
spot, when they went straight away. It is only necessary to consult 
the pages of the memoir under notice to be convinced that among 
wasps, at anyrate, there is no such thing as ‘sense of direction,’ but 
that their ‘homing’ powers are the result of preliminary survey and 
subsequent memory. 
Of the many wonderful devices and signs of intelligence observed, 
the most astounding is that related of Ammophila urnaria. Many 
individuals of this species were carefully watched making their 
burrows, catching and stinging their caterpillars, conveying them to 
the subterranean larder and closing the aperture with lumps of earth, 
small stones, etc., in order to conceal it from the marauding red ants. 
As among ourselves so too here some individuals are slovenly and 
careless in their work, others bestow upon it all the assiduous care of 
the artist. Of these the last one, already remarkable for her perfect 
workmanship, reached an excellence that is almost incredible were it 
not supported by such reliable testimony as that of Mr and Mrs 
Peckham, and further substantiated by an independent observation by 
Dr 8. W. Williston on another individual elsewhere. This wasp 
having stored her nest proceeded to fill it up with grains of fine dirt, 
and “picking up a small pebble in her mandibles used it as a hammer 
in pounding them down with rapid strokes, thus making the spot as 
hard and firm as the surrounding surface.. Before we could recover 
from our astonishment at this performance she had dropped her stone 
and was bringing more earth. We threw ourselves down on. the 
eround that not a motion might be lost, and in a moment we saw her 
pick up the pebble and again pound the earth into place with it, 
hammering now here and now there until all was level.” Such an 
