20 The Hunting Wasps 



some bit of hard sandstone projecting like a 

 ledge, if there be naturally hollowed in the 

 ground some hole large enough to put one's 

 fist in, it will be under that shelter or in this 

 cavity that she contrives her gallery, thus add- 

 ing a natural vestibule to the edifice of her own 

 construction. Though no sort of communism 

 exists among them, these insects nevertheless 

 like to associate in small numbers ; and I have 

 always observed their nests in groups of about 

 ten at least, with the orifices, which are usually 

 pretty far apart, sometimes close enough to 

 touch one another. 



On a bright, sunny day it is wonderful to 

 watch the different operations of these indus- 

 trious miners. Some patiently remove with 

 their mandibles a few bits of gravel from the 

 bottom of the pit and push the heavy mass 

 outside ; others, scraping the walls of the corri- 

 dor with the sharp rakes of their tarsi, collect 

 a heap of rubbish which they sweep out back- 

 wards and send streaming down the sides of 

 the slopes in a long thread of dust. It was 

 these periodical billows of sand discharged from 

 the galleries in process of building that be- 

 trayed the presence of my first Cerceres to me 

 and enabled me to discover their nests. Others, 

 either because they are tired or because they 

 have finished their hard task, seem to rest and 



