CLEAR WINGS. 41 



That deprives tliem of all motion, 

 Yet seems scarcely to be fatal, 

 So long they retain their freshness ; 

 Thus numbed, they, poor things, are carried 

 By the predatory Sandwasps, 

 And safe stowed within their burrows, 

 For the maggot young to feed on. 

 Their antennae always elbowed, 

 Rather short and almost simple : 

 Fore wings flat and never folded ; 

 Fore legs armed with spines for digging ; 

 Hind legs also spined, for lifting 

 All the spiders, flies and bugflies. 

 That they carry to their burrows ; 

 Body nipped in at the middle. 

 The waist thin and often threadlike. 

 Such are Sandwasps or Sphecina, 

 Sandwasps, Woodwasps, or Sphecina. 

 Watch the ant, thou little maiden ! 

 Mark her labours, and learn wisdom ! 

 Need I tell thee, need I show thee. 

 How she plies her ceaseless duty ; 

 How she excavates her dwellings ; 

 How she feeds her helpless off'spring. 

 How she tends them, how she loves them, 

 How, in sunshine bright, she suns them, 

 How she moves them, when in danger. 

 From a foe or passing shower ; 



