The Hunting Wasps 



the larvae consist of caterpillars of Moths. 

 The Silky Ammophila selects, though not ex- 

 clusively, those long, thin caterpillars which 

 walk by looping and unlooping their bodies. 

 Their gait suggests a pair of compasses that 

 makes its way by opening and closing in 

 turns. Hence they are known by two ex- 

 pressive names: Loopers and Measuring- 

 worms. 1 The same burrow contains pro- 

 visions varying greatly in colour, a proof 

 that the Ammophila hunts without distinc- 

 tion every species of Loopers, provided that 

 they be small, for the huntress herself is 

 anything but large and her grub cannot get 

 through very much, in spite of the five pieces 

 of game set before her. If Loopers fail, 

 the Wasp falls back on other equally slender 

 caterpillars. Curved into a hoop as the re- 

 sult of the sting that paralysed them, the 

 five pieces are stacked up in the cell: the up- 

 permost carries the egg for which the pro- 

 visions are made. 



The three other Ammophila? give only one 

 caterpillar to each larva. It is true that 

 here bulk makes up for number: the game 



^he caterpillars of the Geometrae, or Geometric! 

 Moths, are called also Inchworms, Spanworms and Sur- 

 veyors. Translator's Note. 



260 



