HUNTERS OF LARGE ORTHOPTERA 169 



turned and claimed it. About twelve inches away and fac- 

 ing the hole was a grasshopper, a Melanoplus differentiates 

 Thorn. ? [A. N. Caudell], lying in the very natural posi- 

 tion of one at rest. When it remained there without mov- 

 ing we decided that it, too, was a participant in the drama 

 about to take place. 



For fifteen minutes the wasp enlarged the hole, all the 

 time working out the dirt with her mouth and forelegs. 

 The mandibles brought out the big clods, while the legs 

 rapidly worked the dust out behind her. Once she paused 

 to examine the hopper and when she found it resting per- 

 fectly quietly except for the pulsating of the abdomen, she 

 at once resumed her work. For eight minutes more she 

 worked at the excavating before she again examined her 

 prey. She had more difficulty in finding it this time, and 

 walked around in an irregular circle twice and a part of a 

 third circuit before she stumbled upon it. She straddled 

 it as it lay, grasped its antennae in her jaws, stretched her 

 legs over the sides of its body, and thus trundled it along 

 (just as in fig. 40). At a point about four inches distant 

 from the nest, she left the grasshopper, went to the mouth 

 of the burrow, poked her head in, turned back and once 

 more scrutinized the prey and immediately took out two 

 loads of dirt, one from each side of the entrance, there- 

 by enlarging the opening. It was difficult for an observer 

 watching this exact work to throw aside the conviction that 

 actual judgment was a guiding factor in such little details 

 of behavior as this. Then she continued deepening the cav- 

 ity. A buzz, similar to the shrill buzz of a fly ensnared, was 

 occasionally audible; it seemed that each buzz was simul- 

 taneous with the energetic pressing of her head as she strove 

 to loosen a pellet of earth. At 9: 15 she started for her 

 hopper, mounted and grasped it the same as before, except- 

 ing that this time she clasped its thorax with her front legs 



