

FLY-CATCHING WASPS 



97 



FIG. 24. The bare portion of the sand bank was inhabited by Para- 

 nothyrcus cingulatis. 



burned there. This is mentioned merely to shew that the 

 smoke and flames had been unable to put the insects to rout. 

 A survey of a large part of the shore revealed no other 

 colonies of these wasps. While the community was large, 

 nothing in the way of communal life could be discovered. 

 Each wasp conducted its own home independently. 



The open holes were conspicuous because of their form. 

 While the burrows themselves were round, the entrance was 

 shaped like an arched doorway with a flat bottom, and was 

 one-eighth inch larger than the inner hole. The wasps 

 were coming and going, each bringing a Dipterous morsel 

 under her abdomen, darting into the hole with it, without 

 stopping at the entrance or leaving it at the doorway until 

 an examination of the interior could be made. 



Several of the wasps were enlarging their nests. The 

 method was to bite out and loosen the sand, and rapidly 

 kick it out under the body, through the doorway, where it 



