3i6 The Hunting IV asps 



mother behave on her return ? Let us con- 

 sider the question in detail, according to scien- 

 tific precepts : it is a perplexing position for 

 the observ^er, as my recent experiences make 

 me suspect. Here is the problem : the mother 

 on arriving has the feeding of her larva as her 

 object in view ; but to reach this larva she 

 must first find the door. The grub and the 

 entrance-door : those are the two aspects of 

 the question that appear to me to merit separate 

 consideration. I therefore take away the grub, 

 together with the provisions, and the end of the 

 passage becomes a clear space. After making 

 these preparations there is nothing to do but 

 exercise patience. 



The Wasp arrives at last and goes straight 

 to where its door ought to be, that door of which 

 naught but the threshold remains. Here, for 

 more than an hour, I see her digging on the 

 surface, sweeping, making the sand fly, and per- 

 sisting, not in scooping out a new gallery, but 

 in looking for that loose door which ought easily 

 to give way before a mere push of the head and 

 let the insect through. Instead of yielding 

 materials, she finds firm soil, not yet disturbed. 

 Warned by this resistance, she confines herself 

 to exploring the surface, always in close prox- 

 imity to the spot where the entrance should be. 

 A few inches on either side is all that she allows 



