AN ISLAND SETTLEMENT. 63 



showed no marks of violence. It was not wasted for we after- 

 ward fed it to one of our wasp nurslings at home. 



At another time we saw one wasp attack another that was 

 bringing in a fly. In the struggle that ensued the owner lost 

 her booty, as the two rolled over and over on the ground. As 

 they parted it was seized by the thief. They clinched again 

 and rolled on the ground as before, and this time the fly was 

 recovered by the rightful owner. At this point, thinking that 

 perhaps one of the wasps was a male, and that this might be 

 their style of courtship, we seized both of them, whereupon the 

 ily was dropped and the two wasps turned their attention to at- 

 tacking us. Both proved to be females. Not only do the 

 Benibecids fight in this way for the possession of their prey, 

 they even quarrel without any apparent cause. We have seen 

 two females digging their nests at a little distance apart, one of 

 which was repeatedly attacked by the other although she did 

 nothing to provoke the aggressor. They are certainly very un- 

 neighborly and have no idea of living in harmony. When fly- 

 ing in a threatening manner, either at us or at each other, they 

 have a way of wagging their abdomens violently from side to 

 side in a way well calculated to inspire terror. 



In warm sunny weather spinolae works industriously through 

 the middle of the day and seems determined to provide abund- 

 antly not only for her own offspring but for any unbidden 

 guests that it may be her fate to care for. She never works 

 more than four or five hours a day, however, and in unfavorable 

 weather she does not work at all. On going over to the island 

 one cloudy morning to spend some hours in watching the Bem~ 

 bex activities, we found the spot quiet and lifeless. No one 

 seeing it for the first time would have dreamed of the multi- 

 tudes of living creatures beneath his feet. The nests seemed 

 to be all closed, but on peering curiously about we found one on 

 sloping ground, in the suburbs of the colony, of which the door 

 was open. Just within was the proprietor gazing out on the 

 landscape, as she is shown in the illustration. (Plate VI.) She 

 .seemed to leaning on her elbows, and her face, enlivened by 



