CHAPTER X 

 THE HUNTERS OF LARGE ORTHOPTERA 



Priononyx stratum Lep. [S. A. Rohwer]. 



The morning of September 4 was clear and sunny, with 

 a temperature of about 72. As we walked across the field 

 at 9 : 30, we scared up a P. atratum. She circled about in 

 alarm above the grass in the vicinity, but in a few minutes 

 her excitement subsided and she turned to looking for the 

 nest which she had so hastily left. She seemed sure of the 

 general region and did not wander far away from it in her 

 searches, but seemed to be without any clue to the exact 

 location of the hole. May it be that, in leaving the spot in 

 sudden alarm, she had failed to go through her usual cere- 

 monies of getting her bearings; hence the great trouble in 

 locating it? For an hour she searched diligently to and fro 

 in the immediate vicinity, examining every ant-hill and 

 depression, until at length she found it or rather, seemed 

 to stumble upon it. The hole was about three-fourths inch 

 deep ; the bottom was concave and firm, so we could not tell 

 whether she was digging or filling and packing it in. A 

 little loose dirt lay at the mouth of the hole. The bitings 

 were of characteristic size and shape for P. atratum, not 

 pellets nor dust, but tiny chips of almost uniform size. 



The moment she spied the hole, the wasp joyfully pounced 

 upon it and, with a few rapid strokes, filled it up scooped 

 the dirt all in loosely almost before we knew what she 



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