The Hunting Wasps 



I examined with every possible care the flat 

 stone that sheltered them, as well as the 

 ground underneath and just around it, and 

 discovered not a thing to tell me the cause of 

 this strange assemblage. Having nothing 

 better left to do, I tried to count them; and 

 it was then that the clouds came and put an 

 end to my observations and plunged us into 

 that darkness of which I have described the 

 anxious consequences. At the first drops of 

 rain, before leaving the spot, I hastened to 

 put back the stone and replace the Ammo- 

 philae in their shelter. I give myself a good 

 mark, which I hope that the reader will con- 

 firm, for having taken the precaution not to 

 leave the poor insects whom my curiosity had 

 disturbed at the mercy of the downpour. 



The Hairy Ammophila is not rare in the 

 plains, but she is always found singly by the 

 side of the paths or on the sandy slopes, now 

 engaged in digging her well, anon busily cart- 

 ing her heavy caterpillar. She lives alone, 

 like the Languedocian Sphex; and it was a 

 great surprise to me to come upon such a 

 number of this species collected under one 

 and the same stone almost at the top of Mont 

 Ventoux. Instead of the isolated specimen 

 which I had known hitherto, a crowded com- 

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