THE ENEMIES OF THE GRASSHOPPER 



a grasshopper, and at each visit she remains for ten or 

 fifteen minutes inside the nest. The grasshopper is car- 

 ried in the mandibles, supported by the second and third 

 pairs of legs. We never succeeded in opening a nest of 

 this species, but a grasshopper taken as the wasp was 

 bringing it home did not die until the sixth day. 



In our summer work we often found ourselves wish- 

 ing that we could be in half a dozen places at once 

 and could chase several wasps at the same time. Never 

 did we feel these desires more keenly than on the twenty- 

 ninth of July, when, after spending the best part of an 

 hour in watching the hunting of an Ammophila, we were 

 obliged to choose between following her to a possible 

 conclusion, and giving our attention to a little jet-black 

 wasp, Lyroda subita, which we now saw for the first 

 time. This wasp was running around a bunch of clover 

 in a nervous, agitated manner, as though she were 

 oppressed by some great anxiety. The chance of dis- 

 covering something entirely new decided us to relinquish 

 our Ammophiline hopes, and we sat down at the feet of 

 our new teacher. 



We could not see anything remarkable about that 



bunch of clover, but certainly the spot had some strong 



attraction for the uneasy little wasp. She ran off first 



in one direction and then in another. She circled about 



253 



