THE SAND-LOVING AMMOPHILA 239 



when it overtook the leader, the two would describe circles 

 and figure eights about each other in a vertical plane about 

 six feet high. 



Although A. procera were abundant at this place, only two 

 females were seen making burrows. The females seem to 

 be of a frivolous sort, in comparison with A. pictipennis. 

 Perhaps at the time when they were observed, they were in 

 that restless stage of courtship. It may be that, after they 

 are properly fertilized, they begin work with real earnestness. 

 However, since our observations on this point are the same 

 for July, August and September in three different localities, 

 without their improvement towards industry, we are skep- 

 tical toward this excuse. 



The one A. procera which we found digging her burrow 

 was at Moselle. The hole was one-half inch in diameter 

 and, when we found it, was deep enough to include half the 

 length of her body. The wasp would dig, head downward, 

 for a time, then back out of the hole and fly a short distance 

 to drop the load of dirt. In five minutes' digging, she 

 doubled its depth; then she flew away to a pile of rocks, as 

 if looking for prey, and never returned. October i we saw 

 an A. procera temporarily closing, with chips and clods, her 

 new hole which she had made in the soil among the roots 

 of an uprooted tree. 



One was seen digging in the .friable soil of a small, bar- 

 ren area amid low vegetation. Later in the day, the nest 

 was dug out and found to be the characteristic "L"- 

 shaped nest of A. pictipennis, but larger. This burrow was 

 one-half inch wide, went down vertically with only a slight 

 slant for one and one-half inches and terminated in a hori- 

 zontal pocket one inch in length. The proprietor was out 

 foraging, and had left the hole temporarily covered. Loose 

 soil filled the tunnel at the orifice to a depth of one-quarter 

 inch; beneath this was a large clod dextrously placed to 

 hold up the loose earth. 



