COMMON WASPS 99 



ground, eager to go in search of provisions. They butted 

 against the transparent wall, tumbled down, picked them- 

 selves up again, and whirled round and round in a crazy 

 swarm. Some, weary of dancing, wandered peevishly at 

 random and then re-entered their dwelling. Others took 

 their places as the sun grew hotter. But not one of them, 

 not a single one, scratched with her feet at the base of the 

 glass circle. This means of escape was beyond them. 



Meanwhile a few Wasps who had spent the night out of 

 doors were coming in from the fields. Round and round the 

 bell-glass they flew ; and at last, after much hesitation, one 

 of them decided to dig under the edge. Others followed 

 her example, a passage was easily opened, and the Wasps 

 went in. Then I closed the passage with some earth. The 

 narrow opening, if seen from within, might help the Wasps 

 to escape, and I wished to leave the prisoners the honour of 

 winning their liberty. 



However poor the Wasps' power of reasoning, I thought 

 their escape was now probable. Those who had just entered 

 would surely show the way ; they would teach the others 

 to dig below the wall of glass. 



I was too hasty. Of learning by experience or example 

 there was not a sign. Inside the glass not an attempt was 

 made to dig a tunnel. The insect population whirled round 

 and round, but showed no enterprise. They floundered 

 about, while every day numbers died from famine and heat. 

 At the end of a week not one was left alive. A heap of corpses 

 covered the ground. 



The Wasps returning from the field could find their way 

 in, because the power of scenting their house through the 

 soil, and searching for it, is one of their natural instincts, 

 one of the means of defence given to them. There is no need 

 for thought or reasoning here : the earthy obstacle has 

 been familiar to every Wasp since Wasps first came into 

 the world. 



But those who are within the bell-glass have no such 



