AMMOPHILA AND HER CATERPILLARS. 2& 



named her on account of her immense size. Twice as large as 

 an ordinary urnaria, she made, when flying, a loud hum that 

 at once attracted attention. She was juet completing and clos- 

 ing her nest and we determined to watch and see what kind of 

 a victim she would bring in, as it seemed improbable that this 

 great creature would content herself with the ordinary fare of 

 the species. The opening to the nest measured half an inch in 

 diameter. 



It was eleven o'clock when she flew away. At half past 

 twelve she reappeared, coming from the direction of the woods,, 

 opened her nest and took out a few more pellets. Then she flew 

 to a bush which grew against the fence, three feet away, and 

 following her quickly we saw an immense green caterpillar 

 placed high up on a branch. It must have taken both strength 

 and perseverance to drag this heavy weight so far from the 

 ground. She seized it at once and carried it down, not flying, 

 as these wasps sometimes do when they are descending with a 

 burden, and then dragged it into her nest, where it fitted rather 

 tightly. This nest was so shallow and so obliquely directed that 

 the caterpillar was plainly visible after it had been taken in. 



After she had laid her egg she crawled out, getting past the 

 caterpillar with some difficulty, and closed the nest There was 

 certainly no room for any further store of provisions and from 

 the size of the caterpillar we judged that it would furnish suffi- 

 cient nourishment even for the offspring of this wasp. We 

 were, therefore, not surprised, upon opening the nest two days 

 later, to find that nothing more had been brought. "We have 

 said that the wasp larvae spend from six days to two weeks in 

 eating. To be more exact, all that we watched, with the ex- 

 ception of the one which developed from the egg of this big 

 wasp, ate from six to eight days and then spun their cocoons, but 

 this one seemed determined to reach the size of its mother and 

 ate continuously for fourteen days. Of course long before this 

 time had expired the remnant of the caterpillar had become a 

 dry, dark-colored mass which looked little likely to tempt the 

 appetite, but the great larva ate away with unabated relish. 



