THE SAND-LOVING AMMOPHILA 219 



was now needed and she made it. The question confronted 

 us of how she would get dust to fill in the rest of the hole. 

 That troubled her not at all ; with her strong mandibles she 

 dug up the hard earth nearby and kicked it in until the 

 depression was full, and packed it again with her head. To 

 accomplish this she almost stood on her head, bracing her- 

 self with her hind legs. In our eagerness we crowded too 

 near again, whereupon she flew off and walked around for 

 three minutes ; then she returned and resumed the work, ex- 

 actly where she had left off under disturbance, and finished 

 the pounding with her head. She next found a hard piece 

 of clay a few inches away and, using it as before, packed 

 down the loose earth. After rubbing with this for five min- 

 utes she left it in the hole, dug up some more earth and 

 kicked it over the site, quite covering this last tool, so she 

 went back to the hole and with her mandibles fished out 

 this .same clod and again used it for one minute to pack 

 down the last layer perfectly smooth and level with the sur- 

 rounding earth. Then she laid the useful clod to one side. 

 The interesting fact is that she should have remembered just 

 where her tool was last left. After an additional few sec- 

 onds of dust-kicking, to make the spot look exactly like the 

 rest of the field, she flew carelessly away, her task done. 



This is the method of work generally followed fairly uni- 

 formly, by Ammophila, in her nidification. However, the 

 members of this species show much individuality in their 

 behavior, and meet emergencies in such varied and interest- 

 ing ways that it will be of interest to note some of their 

 digressions from the usual method. 



In the manner of departing from the finished burrow 

 when starting out on a foraging trip, these wasps show so 

 much variation that it has been quite impossible for us to 

 ascertain which is the normal and which the abnormal con- 

 duct. We are inclined to believe that, if they are frightened 



