The Hunting Wasps 



before a mere push of the head and let the 

 insect through. Instead of yielding ma- 

 terials, she finds firm soil, not yet disturbed. 

 Warned by this resistance, she confines her- 

 self to exploring the surface, always in close 

 proximity to the spot where the entrance 

 should be. A few inches on either side is all 

 that she allows herself. The places which 

 she has already tested and swept twenty 

 times over she returns to test and sweep 

 again, unable to bring herself to leave her 

 narrow radius, so obstinate is her conviction 

 that the door must be here and no elsewhere. 

 Several times in succession I push her gently 

 with a straw to some other point. She will 

 not be put off : she returns straightway to the 

 place where her door once stood. At rare 

 intervals, the gallery, now an open trench, 

 seems to attract her attention, though very 

 faintly. The Bembex takes a few steps 

 towards it, still raking, and then goes back 

 to the entrance. Twice or thrice I see her 

 run the whole length of the conduit and 

 reach the blind alley, the abode of her grub; 

 here she gives a few careless strokes of the 

 rake and hurries back to the spot where the 

 entrance used to be, continuing her quest 

 there with a persistency that ends by weary- 

 344 



