334 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



one we found in the field, it made a brave effort to eat this ; 

 but its strength proved unequal to coping with its tough 

 skin and its wriggling activity. Two days later the larva 

 died. 



No details of biological significance could be found in 

 the literature on this wasp. 



Odynerus foraminatus Sauss. [S. A. Rohwer]. 



The first Odynerus foraminatus with which we became 

 acquainted were nesting in a pile of . old, weathered logs. 

 They are solitary dwellers, and it is highly doubtful if they 

 live in colonies ; this instance was probably a case of a num- 

 ber of them nesting near together merely because the site 

 afforded the proper conditions for each one. 



One wasp in particular attracted our attention. She had 

 her burrow in a log twelve inches from the ground. Twice 

 she entered; then we crept close to see what she was so 

 mysteriously doing in her little cranny. She had about a 

 half-dozen caterpillars, and was arranging and packing 

 them close together, until they were forced so deep into the 

 hole that they were out of sight. Then she left, and soon 

 returned with a moist pellet of gray fire-clay and used it 

 inside the hole, probably for a partition. She brought a 

 second load ; then we took her, to ascertain her identity. 



Nearby were other nests of this kind (see fig. 66), 

 which were similarly situated. As we watched one, the 

 wasp's behavior took a most remarkable form. We are 

 certain that our presence did not cause it, for we were 

 careful not to intrude. Without apparent cause, she carried 

 out four caterpillars, one at a time, and dropped them in the 

 road six feet away. We followed and found one of them; 

 it was Enarmonia sp., of the family Tortricidae [S. B. 



