AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS 



nest. When disturbed she flew away, but soon returned, 

 dropped her prey half an inch from the nest, proceeded 

 to clear the opening, ran inside to see that all was right, 

 and then backed in with the caterpillar. Emerging after 

 a few minutes, she placed a small pebble in the doorway, 

 which was thus partly closed, and flew away. She 

 brought three more caterpillars at intervals of thirty 

 minutes, and then, after wedging a pebble into the neck 

 of the opening, she began to fill it in solidly, scratching 

 in dirt and packing in lumps of earth which were brought 

 in her mandibles. We did not allow her to complete 

 this operation, as it would have made excavation more 

 difficult, but caught her and dug out the nest. The 

 tunnel ran down obliquely for five inches, being two 

 inches below the surface at the pocket. In it we found 

 a wasp larva, which was at least three days old, and 

 four caterpillars. There were no signs of the banquet- 

 ing which must have already taken place. We carried 

 this larva home with us, and it ate the caterpillars up 

 clean, finishing with a fifth which we supplied from 

 another nest, and going into its cocoon on September 

 sixteenth. The caterpillars all wriggled about on the 

 slightest stimulation, and remained in this lively state 

 until they were eaten. They belonged to four different 

 species. 



