266 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



older and more experienced ones were agile in escaping 

 when we approached to make a catch. At 1 1 : 30 only one 

 (the queen 6 ) had returned. The next day at 2:00 p. m., 

 while waiting for the mail, we saw one of the marked 

 workers sitting on a post fifty feet from the place where 

 it had been liberated. We thought at first that it was ill 

 or injured, but when approached it darted nimbly away in 

 apparent good health. It may have been young or too in- 

 different even to start back home. In any event, it never 

 reached home. 



The one worker two days old from nest 13 did not return. 

 The queen from nest 20 returned at 2 : oo p. m. 



Experiment Xlb 



We were now ready for the second step in the experi- 

 ment. For this purpose, the above-mentioned successful 

 competitors, and a few others which had proved capable 

 in previous flights, together with a small number of en- 

 tirely new and inexperienced wasps, all distinctly marked 

 and with variously modified antennae, were liberated as 

 usual at the mail-box, on the same afternoon at 5:15. 

 This allowed them ample time to return before nightfall 

 three hours later. When these wasps were released, they all 

 flew away with the usual alertness and energy, so one see- 

 ing them would suspect that the loss of their antennae made 

 no difference to them. 



From nest 18, two workers were taken and the left anten- 

 na removed near the base. One of them bore a white 

 mark proving that it had been successful in a previous 

 flight; the other was new in the work. The next day be- 

 tween 7 : 30 and 8 : 30 both of these had returned. 



Two workers from nest n, with previous experience, 

 were each deprived of the right antenna and sent out on 



6 Later observations proved this one to be the queen. 



