BEHAVIOR OF POMPILID WASPS 53 



the burning sun, watching a motionless spot of earth ! But 



how consoling that the poet who best knew patience has said : 



"He also serves who only stands and waits." 



At length we were preparing to dig her up, when sud- 

 denly a speck of the loose dirt in the middle of her mound 

 quivered and a tiny hole appeared; she was hollowing it 

 out from underneath and slowly packing it firmly back into 

 the channel as she came up, until now the door was falling 

 in. She emerged gradually, slowly, packing the loose dirt 

 back into the hole with all her legs and punching it down 

 with the tip of her ventrally curved abdomen. She filled 

 it in tight to the top, swept the dust back over it loosely 

 and departed so promptly that we had trouble in inter- 

 cepting her. 



When we dug out the burrow the spider kicked so vigor- 

 ously that it seemed it would dislodge the egg. The long, 



FIG. 10. The burrow of Pompiloides tropicus. Natural size. 



white egg was slightly curved and fitted nicely to the side 

 of the abdomen where the larva would be in position for 

 the juicy, tender part of its food first. 



