THE MINERS 289 



wasp, with a quick movement, thrust his 

 sting into the body of his foe, killing him 

 easily and almost instantly. The experi- 

 ment was repeated on the part of the 

 wasp, and when there was no response 

 from the inside, he became satisfied, prob- 

 ably, that he held the fort. 



" At all events he proceeded to enter the 

 nest and slaughter the young spiders, which 

 were afterwards lugged off one at a time." 



Another wasp tried a similar experiment 

 on a caterpillar rolled in a leaf. The wasp 

 examined both ends of the rolled leaf only 

 to find them closed. It then clipped a 

 hole in one end. Having done this, it 

 went to the other end and made a noise 

 which frightened the caterpillar and caused 

 it to rush out of the hole the wasp had 

 cut. Of course the wise wasp seized the 

 foolish caterpillar, stung it, and attempted 

 to carry it home. Finding it too large, 

 her waspship cut it in two, carried away 

 one half, and came back for the rest. 



19 



