no WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



it turned at right angles and went westward and downward 

 at an angle of forty-five degrees, for ten inches, the course 

 of the channel being broken at one point by a rather sharp 

 kink, without any obstruction or cause that we could see. 

 It then turned at right angles again and went directly down 

 into the earth for two inches. Here, at the end of the tunnel, 

 was the female P. pimctatus, probably ready to spend the 

 night. The monotonous details of the channel are men- 

 tioned here because it certainly was the crookedest one we 

 ever saw in the work of wasps. No larva nor provisions 

 were present there did not even seem to be a terminal 

 chamber so we suspect that the burrow was still in course 

 of construction. If this is only a part of her work, what 

 must be the extent of her finished project! The entire 

 length of the burrow was about fourteen inches, and after 

 its many convolutions it terminated about eleven inches be- 

 low the surface of the ground. 



The burrow was already begun when we found it, and it 

 seemed still to be incomplete; nevertheless, we know that 

 the insect was at work digging for two whole days. The 

 wasp is comparatively small, and when we think of the small 

 burrows of some of her -larger cousins, we marvel at the 

 amount of work that she does. It is truly wonderful that 

 this little creature should delve so deep into the earth to find 

 safety for her offspring, which doubtless she will never see. 

 Since the top of the hole is always covered with the loose 

 dirt, and since she is never seen out-of-doors, we suspect 

 that she keeps pushing the dirt upwards with her head and 

 out at the orifice, thereby keeping her house constantly 

 closed to intruders. 



Later in the summer, September 19, we found one insect 

 hovering over her nest, which was temporarily closed. She 

 seemed to be performing her flight of orientation, calmly 

 poising in the air and deliberately swinging, pendulum-like, 



