BEHAVIOR OF POMPILID WASPS 59 



digging in an old hole of some larger insect (wasp, spider 

 or beetle), which had been closed by a recent rain, but not 

 tightly packed, so there was still a marked depression on 

 the surface of the ground. She stood head downward, 

 worked the dirt loose and burrowed down through it, and 

 only carried out a chunk occasionally, when it crowded her 

 too much. She was rather clumsy or indifferent about 

 clearing away the debris, and did not dig as neatly and 

 scientifically as most wasps do ; the dirt was constantly fall- 

 ing back upon her as she worked, and, even when she car- 

 ried out a clod at a time, she usually laid it down on the 

 sloping earth at the side of the hole so it promptly rolled 

 in upon her again. We watched her carry out one lump five 

 times, and each time she laid it in the same place on the 

 side of the funnel-shaped depression so it rolled down and 

 bumped her again. She did not work systematically at all, 

 but scratched first on one side of the hole, then on the other, 

 and occasionally paused to clean herself for a while. Finally, 

 after ten or fifteen minutes of this, she left the place in- 

 differently and performed similarly, but for a shorter time, 

 at another old hole near by, but soon abandoned that like- 

 wise. 



We dug up these holes but found nothing in them. Was 

 she seeking for prey in them, or was she prospecting for 

 an easy place to dig her own burrow? We could find no 

 spider near. Others of this genus use spiders which they 

 catch before they dig their burrows. She remained in this 

 immediate vicinity, and later commenced to dig, for only 

 a moment, in two other old covered holes. She moved and 

 worked very indifferently, almost stupidly. 



It may be possible that this one was merely looking for 

 a spider for her own food. One which we saw in the grass 

 a little later in the afternoon was chewing at a small spider, 

 the remains of which were identified as a young specimen 



