THE MINERS 255 



and of course of her possible progeny. The 

 solitary female wasps are all *' queens " ; 

 that is, all perfect, egg-laying females. 



The wasps that dig in the ground have 

 long legs furnished with spines or brushes 

 of hairs, by means of which they dig holes 

 or brush away or smooth over the earth at 

 the entrance to their nests. They are very 

 energetic creatures, some of them complet- 

 ing a tunnel three or four inches long in 

 an hour or two, though some are more 

 deliberate by nature and spend a day or 

 two completing their underground nurs- 

 eries. Sometimes they use their jaws not 

 only to loosen the earth, but to remove it 

 from the entrance to the nest. Even here 

 the legs are more or less useful in kicking 

 away the debris at the doorway, or brush- 

 ing up and smoothing over the entrance 

 to the hole when it is finally closed, and 

 the careful mother wishes to conceal it. 



Some species use the legs far more than 

 the jaws in excavating, and some of these 



