WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



deeper pleasure than our success in following the ac- 

 tivities and penetrating the secrets of their lives. In our 

 garden we have two species of Ammophila, urnaria Cres- 

 son, and gracilis Cresson, both of them being very slender- 

 bodied wasps of about an inch in length, gracilis all black, 

 and urnaria with a red band around the front end of the 

 abdomen. A. polita and A. vulgaris, which look much 

 like urnaria, are common in the sandy fields west and 

 south of Milwaukee. 



During the earlier part of the summer we had often 

 seen these wasps feeding upon the nectar of flowers, 

 especially upon that of the sorrel, of which they are par- 

 ticularly fond ; but at that time we gave them but pass- 

 ing notice. One bright morning, however, we came upon 

 an urnaria that was so evidently hunting, and hunting in 

 earnest, that we gave up everything else to follow her. 

 The ground was covered, more or less thickly, with 

 patches of purslain, and it was under these weeds that our 

 Ammophila was eagerly searching for her prey. After 

 thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to an- 

 other, running three or four steps and then bounding as 

 though she were made of thistledown and were too light to 

 remain upon the ground. We followed her easily, and as 

 she was in full view nearly all of the time we had every 

 hope of witnessing the capture; but in this we weredes- 



18 



