260 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



slender, and sickle-shaped, it also uses its 

 . legs to carry away the debris. The earth 

 is borne some distance from the nest and 

 then dropped, though that which collects 

 about the entrance hole is kicked vigorously 

 aside when the accumulation exceeds what 

 her ladyship considers proper limits. 



When the tunnel is deep enough Madam 

 Sphex flies away, but as a rule not far, for 

 the grass about is alive with grasshoppers, 

 and it does not take the brilliant, strong, 

 and merciless creature long to select one, 

 upon which she pounces. The grasshop- 

 per is quite helpless before the fate that 

 has overtaken it, and yields its life with 

 scarcely a protesting struggle. Having 

 been stung and thus instantly paralysed, 

 it is carried to the nest, dragged in, and 

 shut up there with the egg of the wasp ; 

 for, having deposited her treasure within 

 and laid the egg, Sphex scratches earth 

 into the open end with her legs, very 

 much as a dog might. 



