18 Some Solitary Wasps of Texas. 



When on September 18th an Ammophila flew up in front of rae, 

 I knew from her actions that she had business interests in the 

 neighborhood and so repaired to the inviting shade of a hickory 

 •tree to observe her. She settled and began to dig near an open 

 AvinwphUa nest and I supposed that it belonged to her and that 

 she was just closing it up. But she continued to dig another nest 

 close by. Her work was not destined to go on smoothly, however, 

 for hardly had five minutes passed, when a second individual (No. 

 73) came strutting along bearing a large green caterpillar. Wasp 

 No. 72 remained ignorant of the approach of her sister until the 

 latter came somersaulting over a stick at which the former was 

 working. A fight ensued, the two clinching several times and even 

 drawing their deadly weapons. They then flew away and No. 73- 

 was the first to return. She took up her caterpillar, carried it to 

 her nest, but returned to it, laid the caterpillar down, and pro- 

 ceeded to carry out sand as usual. At 2 :02 No. 72 came back, 

 while No. 73 was within her nest hidden from view, and was about 

 to make off with the caterpillar which she found so handy. The 

 rightful owner intercepted the thief, however, and in another duel, 

 succeeded in recovering the purloined property. She then took the 

 caterpillar up and carried it off for a distance of two feet, where she 

 stopped to reconsider. It seems that the struggle for the recovery 

 of the caterpillar must have reminded the wasp of the struggle 

 to capture it, and that her next idea was to carry the caterpillar 

 home, but she discovered her mistake in a moment. It certainly 

 looked as though some such reflections were going on in the mind 

 of the wasp. After hesitating a moment she turned around, carried 

 the caterpillar back, laid it down at the entrance and hurriedly car- 

 ried out only one mouthful of sand before dragging the caterpillar 

 within. She then closed the nest in a slipshod manner and flew 

 away at 2:23. 



No. 72 returned and finished her nest without interruption where 

 she had begun. By 6 :45 she had not yet returned with her prey 

 and I feared that she would not, since it was already very cool and 

 since there were chances of her having been hurt in the struggle. 

 She brought home a caterpillar, however^ as I found one in the nest 

 several days later, though she did neglect to close the nest. I found 

 both caterpillars in good condition (Fig. 17) but without an egg. 

 It is possible that in the duel the mature eggs, ready to be laid, 

 were lost. Thus affairs sometimes go wrong even with the brilliant 

 Ammophilae. 



