INSTINCT AND SENSE-EXPERIENCE. 59 



"Just here must be told the story of one Httle wasp 

 whose individuality stands out in our mind more dis- 

 tinctly than that of any of the others. We remember 

 her as the most fastidious and perfect little worker of 

 the whole season, so nice was she in her adaptation of 

 means to ends, so busy and contented in her labor of 

 love, and so pretty in her pride over her completed 

 work. In filling up her nest she put her head down 

 into it and bit away the loose earth from the sides, 

 letting it fall to the bottom of the burrow, and then, 

 after a quantity had accumulated jammed it down 

 with her head. Earth was then brought from the out- 

 side and pressed in, and then more was bitten from 

 the sides. When, at last, the filling was level with 

 the ground, she brought a quantity of fine grains of 

 dirt to the spot and picking up a small pebble in her 

 mandibles, used it as a hammer in pounding them 

 down with rapid strokes, thus making this spot as 

 hard and firm as the surrounding surfaces (Plate II, 

 Fig. 2) . Before we could recover from our astonish- 

 ment at this performance she had dropped her stone 

 and was bringing more earth. We then threw our- 

 selves down on the ground that not a motion might 

 be lost, and in a moment we saw her pick up the peb- 

 ble and again pound the earth into place with it, 

 hammering now here and now there until all was 

 level. Once more the whole process was repeated, 

 and then the little creature, all unconscious of the 

 commotion that she had aroused in our minds, uncon- 

 scious indeed of our very existence and intent only on 

 doing her work and doing it well, gave one final, 



