WASPS, SOLITARY AND SOCIAL 



* 



It was on the last day of July that, as we were walking 



through the bean field, we saw a cloud of fine dust which 

 came spurting up out of the ground like water in a foun- 

 tain. By watching intently we saw that the cause of the 

 commotion was the rapid action of the legs of some 

 little creature that was almost hidden in the earth, and 

 this proved to be our first example of P. quinqueno- 

 tatus. 



She was working away as furiously as though she had 

 studied the poets and knew her carpe diem by heart. 

 Faster and faster went the slender little legs; higher 

 and higher rose the jet of dust above her. Then sud- 

 denly there was a pause. The burrower had met with 

 some obstacle. A moment more and she came backing 

 out of the hole, her feet slipping on its crumbling edges. 

 In her mandibles she carried a pebble, which was taken 

 to a distance of four or five inches. Then, moving 

 quickly, she swept away the dust that had accumulated 

 near the mouth of the nest, reentered the hole, and re- 

 sumed the labor of excavation. 



We thought that the rate at which she worked was 

 too violent to be kept up very long; and sure enough, 

 before ten minutes had passed the nest was deep enough 

 for her purposes, and we afterward learned, to our cha- 

 grin, that it was too deep for ours. The wasp came out, 

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