104 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



however, they were disturbed frequently (eight times in one 

 brief resting-period), by other males eager to mate. 



Presently we realized that the size of the swarm (or 

 rather colony, for it was not unified enough to be called a 

 swarm) was gradually diminishing; occasionally one wasp 

 would alight on the bank and slip quietly into a tiny hole, so 

 small as to be almost imperceptible. The holes must have 

 been of their own making, for they were so neat a fit for the 

 insects and of a very uniform size. We dug out some of 

 them to a depth of two or three inches, but at this early date 

 found no nest. They usually slipped into their holes with- 

 out any confusion, alighting en the very spot where the 

 opening was. Sometimes they almost flew into the burrow. 



Their flight was a lazy, droning flight, poising and waver- 

 ing to and fro in the air more than dancing. It all seemed 

 the more wonderful because the wasps, burrows and all 

 were so tiny; the adult wasps were only a little larger than 

 gnats. 



The foregoing observations were made between n and 

 12 o'clock; it was 3 p. m. when we returned to the place 

 the next day. By that time the wasps were behaving not 

 at all as they did on the first clay, but this difference may 

 have been due to either the hour or the day. Other wasps 

 which indulge in these sun-dances in the morning of their 

 lives usually dance only in the morning of the day, and then 

 turn their attention to more serious occupations after the 

 second or third day and in the afternoons. (See account 

 of BembLv nubilipcnnis). It may well be that these wasps 

 were already in the second or third day of their existence 

 when we found them. 



On this day most of them, when they approached the 

 bank, would fly into these burrows. The apertures were 

 temporarily closed from within, and the wasps spent only a 

 few seconds there, when they would come out and fly away. 



