THE GREAT GOLDEN DIGGER 



was two and one half inches deep, it too was deserted. 

 Again our wasp chose a spot and began to burrow. She 

 worked very rapidly, and at twenty minutes before twelve 

 the hole was three inches deep. At high noon she flew 

 away, and was gone forty minutes. The day was exces- 

 sively hot, about 98Fahr., and we ourselves were only 

 deterred from taking a noonday rest by our fixed deter- 

 mination not to leave the place until we had seen all that 

 there was to be seen in the manoeuvres of ichneumonea. 

 On returning she appeared very much excited, fairly 

 quivering with vitality as she resumed her work. She 

 came up backward, carrying the earth with her mouth 

 and anterior legs, and went back from the opening some 

 little distance, when it was dropped, and she at once 

 went in again. While in the burrow we could hear her 

 humming, just as the Pelopaei do when, head downward 

 in the wet mud, they gather their loads for nest-building. 

 In five or six trips a little mass of earth would accumu- 

 late, and then she would lie quite flat on the heap and 

 kick the particles away in all directions. As the work 

 progressed the earth was carried further and further 

 away before it was placed on the ground, and as she 

 backed in different directions the material brought out 

 was well spread about from the down-hill side of the 

 nest. Sometimes she would spend several moments in 



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