1 86 Psyche [December 



wasp larvae I was entirely unprepared for this outcome. Miss 

 Morlej' ^ fed her larvae on maple syrup and raw egg. The larval 

 period was prolonged for at least two weeks and the caps spun 

 by the larvae were thin and transparent. The caps spun by the 

 larA'se observed by me were as opaque as the ordinary caps. 



At five minutes to two, on that same afternoon, a wasp was 

 detected sipping honey from a ISIinot watch-glass. After making 

 a flight of orientation she flew towards the nest, which was only 

 ten feet away. Bethe believes that bees are led home by an 

 unknown force which acts reflexly. Had he been present that 

 afternoon he would have obtained material for much thought. 

 That nest was on the under side of the uppermost shelf of a bank 

 of five. The space between each shelf and the next was one foot. 

 For descriptive purposes let us call the spaces above the shelves 

 A, B, C, D^and E respectively. The nest was in space D. The 

 wasp flew into space B; then, after searching around, flew out 

 and entered space C, where it searched about for a minute or two. 

 From there it went to space D. Although the nest was in that 

 space the wasp failed to find it and left it and flew into space E. 

 After searching there a short time it returned to D and succeeded 

 in finding the nest. After feeding the young and making a flight 

 of orientation the wasp revisited the bottle of honey. From the 

 honey it flew, in practically a straight line, to the nest. Although 

 this behaviour does not harmonize with Bethe's hypothesis, yet 

 it is in perfect accord with the theory that memory of the en- 

 vironment assists hymenopterous insects to find the way home. 



Up to the nineteenth of August not one of the wasps had been 

 outside of the insectary. At all times they were well supplied 

 with honey; but no substitute was made for the usual insect diet. 

 At half past two on that day I noticed a wasp biting at the cap 

 of one of the pupal cells. Soon a second and then a third wasp 

 began to bite at the cap. Bit by bit the cap was picked away. 

 As the hole became larger and larger all of the wasps on the nest 

 began to move about in an excited manner. In an hour the hole 

 was about as large as the cross section of the ceU. The activity 

 of the wasps was now increased. They seemed to vie with each 

 other for a chance to bite at the neck of the partly exposed pupa. 



» Morley, Margaret. Wasps and Their Ways. 1900, pp. 177-180. 



