250 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



more for sticking to it through the second, 

 but when it looked as though we might 

 have to remain by her side through an- 

 other long day, watching an endless series 

 of loads as they were carried out, we con- 

 fess that we thought she was rather over- 

 doing it. Gradually, however, she slowed 

 up her work, taking two or three minutes 

 to make a journey down and up. At last, 

 at just nine o'clock, her head appeared 

 at the top of the stalk, and after a slight 

 hesitation she flew away. The nest was 

 completed." 



This industrious pygmy is quite an ex- 

 ception in wasp annals, for as a rule the 

 wasps retire at sunset and rest until the sun 

 is well up in the morning, though the 

 social wasps under pressure of communal 

 cares sometimes fly until it is quite dark, 

 and are abroad at daybreak. 



All will agree that Crabro Stirpicola 

 deserved the eulogium passed upon her by 

 her patient watchers : " Surely she takes 



