Wasps, Bees, and Ants 



493 



wasp lives through the winter, those that come out in the spring or summer 

 perishing in the autumn." 



The nest-making habits of any solitary wasp, when carefully observed, 

 will prove to be of absorbing interest. On the broad salt marshes of the 



FlG. 694. Nesting-grounds of the solitary wasp, Ammophila sp., in the salt marshes 



of San Francisco Bay. 



western shore of San Francisco Bay near Stanford University I have often 

 watched an interesting species of wasp at work. This is one of the genus 

 Ammophila, the thread-waisted sand-diggers. The marshes are nearly 

 covered with a dense growth of a low fleshy-leaved plant, the samphire or 

 pickle-weed (Salicornia), but here and there are small, perfectly bare, level, 

 sandy places, which shine white and sparkling in the sun because of a thin 

 incrustation of salt. In September these bare places are taken possession 



FIG. 695. Ammophila putting inchworm into nest-burrow. (From life; natural size.) 



of by many female Ammophilas, which make short vertical nest-burrows all 

 over the ground. An Ammophila having chosen a site for its nest bites 

 out a small circular piece of the salty crust, and with its strong jaws digs out 

 bit by bit a little well. Each pellet dug out is carried away by the wasp, 

 flying a foot or two from the mouth of the tunnel, and dropped. To emerge 



