THE SAND-LOVING AMMOPHILA 227 



cell with two medium-sized caterpillars, and that the 

 silky Ammophila, A. holosericea, puts as many as 

 five caterpillars in the burrow, although much smaller 

 ones than those taken by A. sabulosa, A. argentata and A. 

 hirsnta. These last three species use only one for each 

 cell, but here bulk makes up for numbers, for the game 

 selected is large, plump, and capable of amply satisfying the 

 grub's appetite. Martineau, 12 too, finds that A. sabulosa 

 uses but one caterpillar. Parker 13 found a nest of Sphex 

 urnaria containing four larvae of Geometrid moths and one 

 large caterpillar. Peckhams find that Ammophila polita 

 Cress, uses five or six caterpillars. This wasp, they say, has 

 an especial interest in that it shows a transition stage be- 

 tween the wasps that provide a store of food for their larva 

 all at once ancl those which feed their young all through 

 the larval period. Latter, 14 however, finds that A. sabulosa 

 provisions the nest with two large caterpillars, and he also 

 finds that A. campestris returns to the nest, bringing a fresh 

 caterpillar every morning for several days. Thus we see 

 that there are other species of Ammophila besides picti- 

 pennls that provision each cell with but one caterpillar. 



What a privilege it would be to see the actual capture and 

 first paralyzing of the prey ! We have never yet been so 

 fortunate. We have only seen the huntress come trudging 

 homeward across the grass or bare earth with her game 

 already stilled and ready for burial. On one occasion, how- 

 ever, we had the opportunity of seeing a performance which 

 was probably very similar to the first attack of the wasp 

 upon the caterpillar. We saw an Ammophila out, evidently 

 in quest of prey, and placed in her path a large, plump cater- 

 pillar which had shortly before been abandoned by another 



12 Entomologist 28 : 375. 1896. 

 13 Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash. 17: 75. 1915. 

 14 Bees and Wasps, p. 23. 1913. 



