The Yellow-winged Sphex 6i 



movements, to loosen new materials, and back- 

 ward movements, to sweep the rubbish outside. 

 In this constant hurrying to and fro the Sphex 

 does not walk, she darts as though shot from a 

 spring ; she bounds with throbbing abdomen 

 and quivering antennae, her whole body, in 

 short, animated with a musical vibration. The 

 miner is now out of sight ; but we still hear 

 underground her untiring song, while at inter- 

 vals we catch a glimpse of her hind-legs, push- 

 ing a torrent of sand backwards to the mouth 

 of the burrow. From time to time the Sphex 

 interrupts her subterranean labours, either to 

 come and dust herself in the sun, to rid herself 

 of the grains of sand which, slipping into her 

 delicate joints, might hamper the liberty of her 

 movements, or else to reconnoitre the neigh- 

 bourhood. Despite these interruptions, which 

 for that matter do not last long, the gallery is 

 dug in the space of a few hours ; and the 

 Sphex comes to her threshold to chant her 

 triumph and give the finishing polish to her 

 work by removing some unevenness and carry- 

 ing away a speck or two of earth whose 

 drawbacks are perceptible to her discerning eye 

 alone. 



Of the numerous tribes of Sphex-wasps which 

 I have visited, one in particular remains fixed 

 in my memory because of its curious dwelling- 



