The Yellow-winged Sphex 



some unevenness and carrying away a speck 

 or two of earth whose drawbacks are per- 

 ceptible to her discerning eye alone. 



Of the numerous tribes of Sphex-wasps 

 which I have visited, one in particular re- 

 mains fixed in my memory because of its 

 curious dwelling-place. On the edge of a 

 high-road were some small heaps of mud, 

 taken from the ditches by the road-mender's 

 shovel. One of these heaps, long ago dried 

 in the sun, formed a cone-shaped mound, 

 resembling a large sugar-loaf twenty inches 

 high. The site seemed to have attracted the 

 Wasps, who had established themselves there 

 in a more populous colony than I have ever 

 since beheld. The cone of dry mud was 

 riddled from top to bottom with burrows, 

 which gave it the appearance of an enormous 

 sponge. On every storey there was a fever- 

 ish animation, a busy coming and going which 

 reminded one of the scenes in some great 

 yard when the work is urgent. Crickets 

 were being dragged by the antennae up the 

 slopes of the conical city; victuals were being 

 stored in the larders of the cells; dust was 

 pouring from the galleries in process of ex- 

 cavation by the miners; grimy faces appeared 

 at intervals at the mouths of the tunnels; 

 65 



