292 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



attacked by a very tiny red ant, that could 

 not by any possibility have stirred it. 

 When the wasp caught sight of this insig- 

 nificant marauder she fell into a fit of wild 

 fury, and bending her abdomen under, 

 seized the ant again and again in her man- 

 dibles, and flung it backward against the 

 tip of her sting. The little creature finally 

 escaped, seeming none the worse for the 

 rough handling to which it had been sub- 

 jected, while the wasp, still trembling with 

 excitement, grasped her spider and rushed 

 off to a distance of several feet, carrying 

 it up on a weed and depositing it there. 

 The labour of excavation was then resumed, 

 and after half an hour's work, was com- 

 pleted to her satisfaction. Coming up 

 head first, she flattened herself out on 

 the ground, and sprawling thus, dragged 

 herself all around it. The spider was 

 now brought to the nest, being left once 

 on the way, while she ran in and out 

 again, and was taken in after a new and 



