CHAPTER XIV 



SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



The behavior of wasps clearly contributes much evi- 

 dence to the study of instinct and its plasticity or fixedness, 

 the aptitude of organisms for learning, and their psychical 

 adaptability. 



One must surely be impressed with the vast variety of 

 types of phychic phenomena found within the taxonomic 

 limits for Sphegidae and Vespidae. When one goes into 

 the field to study their habits, he must be always prepared 

 to witness some unexpected type of behavior, and hold the 

 mind as well as the eye open for new revelations, unbiased 

 by what other individuals may have done and unprejudiced 

 by any notions of what one should expect to see happen. 

 Marvellous displays of instinct, intelligence and their varia- 

 tions greet one on every hand. The types of behavior are not 

 exhausted with a few observations, but additional phe- 

 nomena are revealed with every species in fact, almost 

 every individual studied. 



American investigators, foremost among whom are the 

 Peckhams, Williams, Iseley, Hartman, Barth and Parker, 

 have made known various aspects of the life-history of ap- 

 proximately no species. The foregoing pages describe 

 the behavior of 6o-odd species. This gives us a total of 

 some 170 species of whose behavior something is known. 

 One can safely say that the ecological life-histories of 

 about half of this number have not been worked to com- 

 pletion, but still await the deft hand of a Fabre or a 



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