138 A HUNTER WASP 



hour when, after disappearing under the thick purslane 

 leaves for a few moments, she came out with a green cater- 

 pillar. We had missed the wonderful sight of the paralyser 

 at work, but we had no time to bemoan our loss, for she was 

 making off at so rapid a pace that we were well occupied in 

 keeping up with her. She hurried along with the same 

 motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. 

 Twice she dropped it and circled over it a moment before 

 taking it up again. For sixty feet she kept to the open 

 ground, passing between two rows of bushes, but at the end 

 of this division of the garden she plunged, much to our 

 dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had great 

 difficulty in following her, since, far from keeping to her 

 former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in 

 the most bewildering fashion, although keeping a general 

 course north-east. It seemed quite impossible that she 

 should know where she was going. The corn rose to a 

 height of six feet all round us ; the ground was uniform in 

 appearance, and to our eyes each group of corn stalks was 

 just like every other group. Yet without pause or hesitation 

 the little creature passed quickly along, as we might through 

 the familiar streets of our native town. 



' At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah ! the 

 power that has led her is not blind, mechanically perfect 

 instinct, for she has travelled a little too far. She must go 

 back one row into the open space that she has already crossed, 

 although not just at this point. Nothing like a nest is visible 

 to us. The surface of the ground looks all alike, and it is 

 with an exclamation of wonder that we see our little guide 

 lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering to a 

 small opening running down into the ground.' l 



The temptation is strong to continue the extract, 

 but I feel that enough, perhaps too much, has been 



1 The Instincts and Habits of Solitary Wasps, by George W. 

 Peckham and Elizabeth G. Peckham, Madison, U.S.A., published 

 by the State, 1898. 



