354 WASP STUDIES AFIELD 



The habit of this insect of carrying water to moisten the 

 earth is indeed a wonderful instinct. It is even more simple 

 for Odynerus dorsale to carry water to moisten the earth 

 where she digs her burrow than it is for Monobia* to make 

 a burrow in a log or bank, or even appropriate an old hole, 

 go elsewhere for water and carry it to a distant dry spot in 

 the earth, make the mud a mouthful at a time and carry it 

 back to her nest for partitions and plugs. That would 

 combine the methods of a water-carrier wasp, a mud-daub- 

 ing wasp and a wood-cutter, plus a renovator or enlarger 

 of old burrows. This would be indeed the most complex 

 list of accomplishments and one of the most complicated 

 methods of nest-building found among wasps. 



