WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



was dead, a period of five and a half days having elapsed 

 since it was brought into the nest. 



We had not supposed that the digging up of her nest 

 would much disturb our Sphex, since her connection 

 with it was so nearly at an end ; but in this we were mis- 

 taken. When we returned to the garden about half an 

 hour after we had done the deed, we heard her loud and 

 anxious humming from a distance. She was searching 

 far and near for her treasure house, returning every few 

 minutes to the right spot, although the upturned earth 

 had entirely changed its appearance. She seemed unable 

 to believe her eyes, and her persistent refusal to accept 

 the fact that her nest had been destroyed was pathetic. 

 She lingered about the garden all through the day, and 

 made so many visits to us, getting under our umbrellas 

 and thrusting her tremendous personality into our very 

 faces, that we wondered if she were trying to question us 

 as to the whereabouts of her property. Later we learned 

 that we had wronged her more deeply than we knew. 

 Had we not interfered she would have excavated several 

 cells to the side of the main tunnel, storing a grasshopper 

 in each. Who knows but perhaps our Golden Digger, 

 standing among the ruins of her home, or peering under 

 our umbrella, said to herself: " Men are poor things: 

 I don't know why the world thinks so much of them." 

 68 



