. 



HUNTERS OF SMALL ORTHOPTERA 147 



afternoon, the work ceased and the mistress did not appear 

 for a time. At about 6 : 30, however at an hour when all 

 honest wasps are abed a Tachysphex terminatus, probably 

 the same individual, was excavating a hole right beside this 

 nest. Our suspicions of her identity were strengthened 

 when she left the new hole, went to the site of the old 

 covered one and for five minutes hovered directly over it, 

 alighted and caressed it with her feet, then returned to her 

 digging at the new burrow. 



The next morning at 8 128 we found her already bring- 

 ing in her first Orthopteron. She carried it on the wing di- 

 rectly to the hole, as before, laid it down on the brink while 

 she kicked out the sand, went in and turned herself around 

 ready to pull it in after her. She remained inside only one- 

 half minute when she came out, covered the hole with a 

 few kicks of sand, and sped away on the wing. In barely 

 five minutes she was back with another hopper and re- 

 peated the performance exactly, only taking time to shy 

 off cautiously several times on account of the camera which 

 stood focused a yard from her nest. When her pretty work 

 was nearly finished, however, it came to a sad end. A 

 B. spinolae had been regarding the identical spot as favor- 

 able for a nest, and when we came back an hour later, a 

 good-sized B. spinolae hole occupied the space, and the eight 

 fine green Orthoptera lay kicked out in the sun to dry. 



On this the evening of the second day, it was cloudy and 

 dark at 6 : 30, yet the plucky little wasp was digging only 

 two inches away from her former nest, the one acquired by 

 the Bewibix. She seemed to be getting it in readiness for the 

 morrow's provisions. It was too dark to work longer at 

 6: 45, and the wasp must have completed her burrow or at 

 least dug it to a sufficient depth, for she kicked some sand 

 into the mouth of the channel, crept in between this mound 

 and the roof and then completely closed the aperture from 



