194 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



When she emerged again, she flew away directly, leaving 

 the hole wide open. This was at 12 : 30 p. m. We thought 

 she had gone for another hopper; but when she did not 

 return by 3 o'clock, we opened the nest. The hole went 

 straight down into the hard soil for seven inches, then it 

 turned at a right angle and in the direction just opposite 

 to the pile of pellets, continued for three inches and ter- 

 minated in an enlargement or pocket (see fig. 43, one-third 

 natural size). (The pocket in this one was somewhat lar- 

 ger than that illustrated by the Peckhams. ) In it were four 

 green, long-horned grasshoppers, Orchelimum vulgare, one 

 of which bore a young larva which appeared to be a Dip- 

 terous parasite. Another female nymph, which was larger 

 (body-length five-eighths inch), bore a yellow, slightly 

 curved egg three-sixteenths inch in length. The other two 

 hoppers were males measuring nearly three-quarters of an 

 inch in length. They were not active, but were still able to 

 move the antennae and mouth-parts when stimulated. 



By the evening of July 28, two days later, the wasp larva 

 had grown enormously. It had eaten the contents of three 

 of the green hoppers and was greedily working over the 

 garbage, a few heads and legs, and actually eating the softer 

 parts of the integument, so we gave it the fourth grass- 

 hopper. Shortly after this it spun a weak and incomplete 

 cocoon. Two weeks later we found that this had been 

 ravaged by that pestiferous intruder, Melittobia. 



On the same day and in the same place, a second burrow 

 was discovered near the first. This had the same external 

 appearance, a hole five-eighths inch in diameter running 

 straight downward, and a large, neat pile of loose dirt and 

 small pellets four inches away. The wasp soon returned 

 from her flight of alarm and resumed her digging. She would 

 walk in head first and come out backwards and continue to 





