22 The Hunting Wasps 



daily as those of the previous year are em- 

 ployed with the aid of a few repairs. The 

 other Cerceres, so far as I know, have no fixed 

 home, no family inheritance handed down from 

 generation to generation. A regular gipsy 

 tribe, they settle singly wherever the chances 

 of their vagrant life may lead them, provided 

 that the soil suits them. But the Great Cer- 

 ceris is faithful to her household gods. The 

 overhanging blade of sandstone that sheltered 

 her predecessors is adopted by her in her turn ; 

 she digs in the same layer of sand wherein her 

 forbears dug ; and, adding her own labours to 

 those which went before, she obtains deep re- 

 treats that are not always easy of inspection. 

 The diameter of the galleries is wide enough to 

 admit a man's thumb ; and the insect moves 

 about in them readily, even when laden with 

 the prey which we shall see it capture. Their 

 direction, at first horizontal to a depth of four 

 to eight inches, describes a sudden bend and 

 dips more or less obliquely now to this side, 

 now to that. With the exception of the hori- 

 zontal part and the bend, the direction of the 

 rest of the tube seems to be regulated by the 

 difficulties presented by the ground, as is proved 

 by the twists and turns observed in the more 

 distant portion. The total length of the shaft 

 attains as much as eighteen inches. At the 



