THE GREAT GOLDEN DIGGER 



Dr. Packard describes Sphex ichneumonea as nesting 

 in gravelly walks, where it digs to a depth of from four 

 to six inches, using its jaws and fore legs to do the ex- 

 cavating. While the wasps that he observed completed 

 the hole in half an hour, ours was actually at work a little 

 over four hours. Her nest, 

 as is shown in the drawing, 

 measured seven and one half 

 inches to the beginning of 

 the pocket, which was three- 

 quarters of an inch wide by 

 one and one half inches long. 

 The yellow-winged Sphex, a 

 native of France, was found 

 by Fabre to take several 

 hours to make her nest, work- 

 ing in hard ground ; while ^/ 

 another species, also studied 

 by this observer, dug in soft 



earth, either in the ground or in the accumulations on 

 the roofs of buildings, and completed her work in fifteen 

 minutes at the most. These variations in the habits of 

 closely related species should be carefully studied in 

 any attempt toward an explanation of their instincts. 



Fabre's account of the genus Sphex, as it appears in 

 69 



