WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



the laying of the egg and the spinning of the cocoon 

 makes it a matter of indifference whether the grass- 

 hopper is alive or dead, since in any case it would be 

 eaten before decomposition set in. 



We deserve no credit for discovering a second species, 

 Tachytes peptonica, for by her loud buzzing, slow flight, 

 and persistent hovering over the nest she gave us every 

 assistance in her power. She looks and acts like one 

 of the large leaf-cutting bees, and this resemblance is 

 heightened by the fact that the grasshopper which she 

 carries is frequently of a leaf-green color. Her nest, 

 which is sometimes on the bare ground and sometimes 

 in the grass, has no external sign to mark it, and when 

 with a great deal of fuss and buzzing she descends 

 and burrows, it closes behind her and disappears from 

 view, so that unless one marks the exact spot there is 

 no way of detecting it afterward. On her exit a very 

 slight amount of scratching closes the hole and leaves 

 it looking exactly like the surrounding surface; so that 

 in comparing her work with the protracted labor of 

 Ammophila and some species of Pompilus in disguis- 

 ing the locality of the nest, we were struck by the suc- 

 cess to which she attained with a very trifling amount 

 of effort. 



It takes peptonica thirty or forty minutes to catch 

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