138 The Hunting IVasps 



The same reason, the bulk and weight of the 

 prey, have entirely reversed the usual order 

 which the Burrowing Wasps follow in their 

 operations. This order we know : it consists 

 in first digging a burrow and then stocking it 

 with provisions. As the victim is not out of 

 proportion to the strength of the spoiler, it is 

 quite simple to carry it flying, which means that 

 the Wasp can choose any site that she likes for 

 her dwelling. She does not mind how far afield 

 she goes for her prey : once she has captured her 

 quarry, she comes flying home at a speed which 

 makes questions of distance quite immaterial. 

 Hence she prefers as the site for her burrow 

 the place where she herself was born, the 

 place where her forbears lived ; she here in- 

 herits deep galleries, the accumulated work of 

 earlier generations ; and, by repairing them a 

 little, she makes them serve as approaches to 

 new chambers, which are in this way better 

 protected than they would be if they depended 

 upon the labours of a single Wasp, who had to 

 start boring from the surface each year. This 

 happens, for instance, in the case of the Great 

 Cerceris and the Bee-eating Philanthus. And, 

 should the ancestral abode not be strong enough 

 to withstand the rough weather from one year 

 to the next and to be handed down to the 

 offspring, should the burrower have each time 



