MINERS 47 



make threatening gestures in order to arouse their 

 sense of danger. If you are sitting quietly by a 

 nest when a wasp opens her door in the morning 

 she will notice you at once, and will probably drop 

 out of sight as though she resented your intrusion 

 into her privacy. After a little she will come up 

 again and will learn to tolerate you, but at the 

 least movement on your part, almost at the winking 

 of an eyelid, she will disappear." 



They all dig deep, tortuous burrows from which 

 one or more cells branch off, and these they stock 

 with insects. These cells are made and provisioned 

 in turn ; and as soon as one is filled with food, 

 and an egg laid, it is closed up. When they quit 

 the nests for business or pleasure they leave the 

 entrance open, but as soon as they return they 

 close it after them by bringing up earth from 

 below. When they are away it is probable that 

 access to the cells is barred, otherwise they would 

 be too accessible to parasitic enemies. " The 

 closing [of the outer entrance] is sometimes effected 

 by pushing the earth up backwards with the end 

 of the abdomen ; but the hole is rather too large 

 for this method, and more frequently the wasp 

 comes up head first, carrying a load of earth in 

 her front legs. This is placed just within and to 

 one side of the entrance, and then more armfuls 

 are brought up, until, after two or three trips, the 

 opening is entirely filled." 



Like Cerceris, the wasps of the genus Philantkus, 

 with their black and yellow bands, may easily be 



