Some Solitary Wasps of Texas. 53 



growing sparsely along the path. While running, the tiny worker 

 betokened even more feverish excitement than when digging, for 

 she ran swiftly with her wings standing out obliquely and in con- 

 tinuous vibration, giving her a most comical appearance. Three 

 feet from the nest the spider lay on top of a pinnatifid leaf of 

 Achillia, excellently adapted to hold the spider and keep it out of 

 reach of the many ants everywhere running around in great num- 

 bers. (Fig. 5.) During the hour and eight minutes that it took 

 to dig the nest (from 9:56 to 11:04), the wasp made six visits to 

 the spider after intervals of one, five, nine, thirteen, thirteen, and 

 thirteen minutes, each time returning to the nest in the same ex- 

 cited manner. The visit was sometimes made partly on the wing, 

 the wasp flying from one of the intervening plants to another. Her 

 sense of direction was, however, not absolutely true, for only once 

 did I see her go straight to the spider. Usually she passed it sev-- 

 eral times before coming upon it. On the way back, the nest was 

 found without much difficulty. 



At 11 :04 the nest was apparently finished, for at this time the 

 wasp ran over to the spider again, grasped it by one of the coxae 

 and advanced with it to within fifteen inches of the nest, where she 

 dropped it to reconnoitre the ground and re-examine the nest. 

 The next advance was to within one and one-half inches of the en- 

 trance, when another survey had to be undertaken. The next spot 

 was within an inch of the nest which was again examined. As- 

 sured that all was right, the spider was once more picked up, and 

 this time taken in. In being taken in, the spider first took a posi- 

 tion with its long axis across the entrance; but the wasp, which 

 had backed in, got hold of the posterior end of the spider and 

 pulled it inside. It seemed to go in smoothly, though two of the 

 legs were directed backwards. The wasp remained inside for fif- 

 teen minutes and finally appeared scratching in sand and stepping 

 it down into the nest. When this was nearly full, she pulled down 

 the dry sand from above the entrance, biting it loose with her man- 

 dibles. After a few minutes rest in the shady corner of a human 

 foot-print, she returned, smoothed over the entrance for a moment 

 or two in a wider circle than before and flew away. 



I immediately dug for the spider that had been just entombed 

 and came across it four inches from the opening of the nest and 

 three inclies below the surface. It was lying in a chamber large 

 enough to hold it with outstretched legs. 



