52 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



not profit by keeping her prey lying at the mouth of the 

 hole, so she carried it to a spot five inches away and pro- 

 ceeded with her digging, visiting it often, as if to see that 

 it was behaving properly. She worked by digging up the 

 loose dirt in the hole and then backing out, pushing it up 

 in a mound behind her. But, we asked ourselves, why did 

 she dig so deep and not make the hole wide enough to admit 

 the spider? 



Time dragged by perhaps she spent another hour in 

 enlarging the hole. At last! for the first time she came 

 pushing her way, head first, up through her mound of loose 

 dirt. Once more she visited the spider and shook it en- 

 quiringly by the left leg, went in and pushed out the last 

 bit of loose dirt, emerged head first again, grasped the 

 spider by the left coxa and, with much labor, dragged and 

 tugged it in. Thus we see that she made her exit head 

 first only when the nest was ready to receive the provisions. 

 The spider fitted in the hole so tightly that its legs were all 

 doubled straight back. At the last her economy was better 

 than we had judged, for the hole was wide enough after 

 all, with no wasted space, and the spider fitted in the hole 

 so snugly that it could not possibly use its legs to kick or 

 work itself free. After the prey was in the hole she con- 

 tinued pushing up loose, fresh dirt, evidently clearing the 

 way as she moved it back in the gallery. The passage must 

 have been of greater diameter below the surface, however, 

 in order to allow both her and the dirt to pass beside the 

 spider. After ten minutes she had thrown up enough fresh 

 dirt to completely close the mouth of the burrow, so we 

 could see no more of her doings. She did not come out 

 on the surface any more, since her property was no longer 

 outside. 



The quarter-hours passed, yet she did not reappear. 

 Thrilling indeed ! Two rational human beings squatting in 



