BEHAVIOR OF POMPILID WASPS 55 



When the filling was packed into the hole up to within 

 one-eighth inch of the surface level, she kicked in some 

 dust from the tiny embankment overhanging the nest not 

 the yellow dust that had originally come out of the hole. 

 (The surface earth here was grey and the subsoil yellow.) 

 She then kicked all of the little clods of grey earth in a 

 heap on top, went a few inches away and made another neat 

 pile of exactly the same kind, then kicked more loose dust 

 over the hole, completely covering it, and also flung in any 

 stray lumps, large or small, that lay near. When they were 

 too large, she carried them in her jaws and loosely dropped 

 them on the site of the nest. At no stage did she attempt 

 to compress the mass on top with her abdomen; it seems 

 that this treatment is reserved for interior work. Just when 

 we were happy to think that the two piles of grey clods 

 were placed there to deceive any enemy that might come 

 near, P. tropicus, as if forgetting herself, kicked half of 

 the second pile over the hole, so all notions of actual ra- 

 tional deception being practised by this Pompilid were shat- 

 tered. 



When she considered her work finished, she flew to a spot 

 fifteen feet distant. There she deliberately and restfully 

 made her toilet for five minutes, then flew high in the air 

 and away. 



We opened the burrow and found it as illustrated (see 

 fig. n), with the bottom of the chamber three inches below 

 the surface of the ground. The maximum diameter of the 

 chamber was one inch. The spider therein was very active, 

 moving the legs and mandibles violently and giving good 

 promise of recovering from its abusive treatment. The 

 white egg adhered to the dorso-lateral surface near the 

 basal part; it never hatched. Eleven days later the spider, 

 Lycosa carolinensis Walck. [C. R. Shoemaker], was dead. 



During the same week two P. tropicns, in company with 



