98 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



rolled down the slope below. When biting out the earth 

 from the sides or ceiling of the nest, they turned around, 

 sometimes quite upside down, and the abdomen squirmed 

 as they forcibly attacked each bite. In many cases the nests 

 were under, and sometimes concealed by, a little natural 

 hood or projection of the earth (fig. 25, burrow in the up- 

 per left-hand corner). 



The nests were found, when excavated, to be of various 

 shapes. The accompanying illustration will give an idea of 

 the diversity of form and their general nature (fig. 25, one- 

 fourth natural size). 



We have never seen lateral cells directly connected with 

 these channels, but have often found from two to eight 

 isolated cells near by. Perhaps they had been made as 

 branches, but when the short, lateral galleries leading to 

 them were closed, the connection could not be distinguished 

 in the sand. Whether or not this wasp digs a long burrow 

 and makes several cells from the main gallery, we cannot 

 say with certainty. In nests excavated later the cells were 

 sometimes found to be so numerous that we could only 

 suspect that other wasps were responsible for them. The 

 burrow in all the nests was about one-eighth inch in diam- 

 eter, and the entrance one-quarter inch wide. When the 

 mother was found within, with some flies at the bottom 

 (showing that the nest was being provisioned), it was seen 

 that no perceptible chamber or cell had been excavated, but 

 the completely filled and closed cells which we came upon 

 in the sand were of very pretty oval form, one-fourth by 

 one-half inch. In one such case we found fourteen flies 

 forming a pretty heap, all piled up like cord-wood, one atop 

 the other, all with the head laid in the same direction. In 

 two other cells close together, twenty flies each were taken. 

 Others contained from eleven to twenty flies. All of the 

 flies used by these wasps were Paralimna appendiciilata 



