76 INSTINCTIVE BEHAVIOUR 
stored in each nest died and became discoloured before the 
first one was entirely eaten. The larva under such circum- 
stances ate it with good appetite, and then spun its cocoon as 
if nothing unpleasant had occurred. 
The mode of carrying their booty is in these wasps in- 
stinctive, and relatively uniform. Ammophila urnaria grasps 
the caterpillar, near the anterior end, in her mandibles, and 
carries or drags it beneath her legs, walking forwards. It is 
Fie. 12.—Solitary Wasp dragging a Caterpillar to its Nest (after 
Peckham), 
generally but not always with the ventral surface uppermost. 
Pompilus takes hold of her spider anywhere, but always drags 
it over the ground, walking backwards. Oxybelus clasps her 
fly with her hind legs; Bembex with the second pair. Hach 
works after her own fashion in a way that is relatively uniform 
for each species. 
The general style of the nest, its mode of construction, and 
its method of closure, are always performed, says Dr. Peck- 
ham, by each species in a similar manner, not indeed in 
circumstantial detail, but quite in the same way in a broad 
sense. Variation or modification is always present, but the 
tendency to depart from a nest of a given type is not ex- 
cessive. Some dig in the ground curved tunnels, with or 
