240 The Hunting JVasps 



stone over a well down which she has to go at 

 least five times in a short space of time. 



In the case of all four, the provisions of the 

 larvae consist of caterpillars of Moths. The 

 Silky Ammophila selects, though not exclusively, 

 those long, thin caterpillars which walk by 

 looping and unlooping their bodies. Their gait 

 suggests a pair of compasses that makes its way 

 by opening and closing in turns. Hence they 

 are known by two expressive names : Loopers 

 and Measurin g- worms. 1 The same burrow con- 

 tains provisions varying greatly in colour, a 

 proof that the Ammophila hunts without dis- 

 tinction every species of Loopers, provided that 

 they be small, for the huntress herself is anything 

 but large and her grub cannot get through very 

 much, in spite of the five pieces of game set 

 before her. If Loopers fail, the Wasp falls 

 back on other equally slender caterpillars. 

 Curved into a hoop as the result of the sting 

 that paralysed them, the five pieces are stacked 

 up in the cell : the uppermost carries the ^^^ 

 for which the provisions are made. 



The three other Ammophilae give only one 

 caterpillar to each larva. It is true that here 

 bulk makes up for number : the game selected 



1 The caterpillars of the Geometras, or Geometrid Moths, are 

 called also Inchworms, Spanworms and Surveyors. — Translator's 

 Note. 



