THE ENEMIES OF THE GRASSHOPPER 



weed, dropped again, and ran into a hole. A moment 

 later she came out, dragging a very limp cricket. An ant 

 that crossed her path was chased vindictively, and then 

 the cricket was placed on its back and scraped from 

 head to foot four or five times with the mandibles. She 

 then ran a little farther, laid it down again, and re- 

 peated the operation, after which it was taken into the 

 nest. 



To find ourselves on the track of a lively wasp at the 

 beginning of her day's work was great good luck, and 

 as Madam Coeruleum was perfectly fearless and did 

 her hunting on foot, instead of disconcerting us with 

 the long flights by which many of our wasps made 

 the chase hopeless, we had every chance to learn her 

 ways. 



It was a fatal day for the crickets. Between nine 

 o'clock and one, sixteen had been packed away, enough 

 to provision three cells, as we knew from former obser- 

 vations. Her manner was brisk and energetic, as she 

 ran about poking her head into every likely hole. At 

 one time we saw her dislodge a cricket which tried to 

 escape by hiding under some brush. She pursued, there 

 was a lively scrimmage, and it was pulled out quite limp 

 and was then held in the mandibles, back up, while she 

 gave it a prolonged sting under the neck, after which 

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