WASPS, SOLITARY AND SOCIAL 



It was on the last day of July that, as we were walking 

 through the bean field, we saw a cloud of fine dust which 

 came spurting up out of the ground like water in a foun- 

 tain. By watching intently we saw that the cause of the 

 commotion was the rapid action of the legs of some 

 ' little creature that was almost hidden in the earth, and 

 this proved to be our first example of P. quinqueno- 

 tatus. 



She was working away as furiously as though she had 

 studied the poets and knew her carpe diem by heart. 

 Faster and faster went the slender little legs; higher 

 and higher rose the jet of dust above her. Then sud- 

 denly there was a pause. The burrower had met with 

 some obstacle. A moment more and she came backing 

 out of the hole, her feet slipping on its crumbling edges. 

 In her mandibles she carried a pebble, which was taken 

 to a distance of four or five inches. Then, moving 

 quickly, she swept away the dust that had accumulated 

 near the mouth of the nest, reentered the hole, and re- 

 sumed the labor of excavation. 



We thought that the rate at which she worked was 

 too violent to be kept up very long; and sure enough, 

 before ten minutes had passed the nest was deep enough 

 for her purposes, and we afterward learned, to our cha- 

 grin, that it was too deep for ours. The wasp came out, 



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