MINERS 49 



capture of which, in good weather, would be a fair 

 day's work." The stinging of the bees was the 

 beginning and end of the operation ; they did not 

 find that this species kneaded her captures in order 

 to obtain honey from them, nor indeed was there 

 any attempt to remove it. These wasps have the 

 habit of sitting in the mouth of their tunnels, with 

 the face filling it, looking out upon the world for 

 some time before starting out in the morning, 

 appearing as though considering the work that lay 

 before them and the best way of accomplishing it. 



A'philantho'ps frigidus digs a shaft eighteen inches 

 deep, and stores her cells with ants, which she 

 stings and strips of their wings. The shaft has a 

 cup-shaped opening. In trying to explore one of 

 these nests in loose soil, the Peckhams had difficulty 

 in ascertaining the direction, so they hit upon the 

 expedient of borrowing an ant that A-philanthops 

 had dropped in the doorway whilst she went in and 

 turned round, and they tied a thread to it to serve 

 as a guide-line. But the wasp was not inclined to 

 aid them. She pulled in the ant and took it part 

 of the way down with the thread attached ; but 

 before any great length of the guide-line had been 

 paid out the "thread was seemingly bitten off, as 

 we found the free end without the ant. A second 

 attempt brought no better results." 



Fabre rather insists upon the remarkable actions 

 of these hymenopterous insects as due to instinct. 

 They do these things because they cannot help it, 

 and some of his experiments support this view ; 



4 



