CRABRO 



succeed so quickly, coming back twice empty-handed 

 for brief visits, and bringing in a load at the end of half 

 an hour. It took six moths to provision the cell, and as 

 the number neared completion her interest and energy 

 seemed to wax greater, the hunting intervals shortening 

 to five, and even to two minutes. We found afterwards 

 that some of the moths were alive and some dead, and 

 that she packed them lengthwise, one after another, 

 into the closely fitting chamber. At a little before eleven 

 o'clock the cell was filled, and the wasp retired from 

 sight, closing the door behind her. We thought that she 

 was resting, but presently the protrusion of wood dust 

 showed that she was enlarging her house, and an hour 

 later she came out and began to hunt again. By this 

 time half a dozen were working. Before leaving for the 

 first time in the morning each one made a thorough 

 study of the place, and on returning they entered their 

 own doors, which were standing open, without hesita- 

 tion, the long white wings of the moths trailing behind 

 them. Four species were represented in the nests that 

 we opened. 



Many species of Crabro make their nests in the stems 



of plants, and among these is stirpicola, which is seen 



in numbers, through the middle of July, flying about in 



a leisurely way, though it is only toward the end of the 



105 



