126 THE SOLITARY WASPS. 



Pompilus quinquenotatus Say. 

 Plate II., fig. 7; PI. X., figs. 6, 7, 8. 



This wasp is usually rather less than half an inch in length 

 and is black, the abdomen having a variable number of white 

 bands and a white tip. 



It was on the last day of July that, as we were walking 

 through the bean field, we saw a cloud of fine dust which came 

 spurting up out of the ground like water in a fountain. By 

 watching intently we saw that the cause of the commotion was 

 the rapid action of the legs of some little creature that was al- 

 most hidden in the earth, and this proved to be our first example 

 of P. quinquenotatus. 



She was working away as furiously as though she had studied 

 the poets and knew her carpe diem by heart. Faster and faster 

 went the slender little legs, higher and higher rose the jet of 

 dust above her. Ther suddenly there was a pause. The bur- 

 rower had met with some obstacle. A moment more and she 

 came backing out of the hole, her feet slipping on, its crumbling 

 edges. In her mandibles she carried a pebble which was taken 

 to a distance of four or five inches. Then, moving quickly, she 

 swept away the dust that had accumulated near the mouth of 

 the nest, re-entered the hole, and resumed the labor of excava- 

 tion. 



We thought that the rate at which she worked was too violent 

 to be kept up very long, and sure enough, before ten minutes 

 had passed the nest was deep enough for her purposes, and we 

 afterward learned to our chagrin, that it was too deep for ours. 

 The wasp came out, circled round the spot three or four times, 

 and then flew off like a hurricane. Never have we seen a crea- 

 ture so fiery, tempestuous, cyclonic. Before we knew her 

 proper title we took to calling her the Tornado Wasp, and by 

 that name we shall always think of her. 



Her flight was too rapid to follow but in a minute we saw her 

 returning. She was carrying a spider, a good sized specimen of 

 Epeira 8tri&, which she had evidently deposited somewhere in 



