PROCEEDINGS OF THE SAND-WASP. 15 



half full of water. I then poured upon them a 

 stream of that element from the mouth of a great 

 bottle held a foot above them, yet, after this 

 treatment, which was so rough as actually to 

 project one out of the glass, I found them floating 

 as before upon their bottoms, and not a drop of 

 water within their cavity." 



Some insects make the homes of their young 

 in the earth. Of these, the insect called the sand- 

 wasp forms, perhaps, one of the most interesting 

 examples. This insect selects generally a hard 

 sunny sand-bank for the excavation it is about to 

 accomplish. Armed with a pair of powerful jaws, 

 by means of which the insect can break off good- 

 sized fragments of the rock she is about to mine, 

 she sets to her arduous undertaking with a bold 

 heart, and it is not long before a tolerable cavity 

 is scooped out. Many of our readers have seen 

 the manner in which human miners proceed when 

 they are forming a hole in a lime or other rock, 

 for the purpose of blasting, and must have noticed 

 that they are in the habit of using a little water, 

 in order to facilitate the boring operation. We 

 are all, also, familiar with the tale of Hannibal 

 chemically softening the Alpine rocks by means 



