342 The Hunting M^asps 



is one that, to be properly conducted, should be 

 made at leisure in one's own garden. I owe my 

 success, therefore, to my mstic laboratory. I 

 make a present of the secret to whosoever would 

 continue those magnificent studies : the harvest 

 is inexhaustible ; there will be sheaves for all. 



When we follow the Ammophila's hunting in 

 the due sequence of her actions, the first question 

 that suggests itself is this : how does the Wasp 

 go to work to recognize the spot beneatli which 

 the Grey Worm lies ? 



There is nothing outside, nothing, at least, 

 perceptible to the eye, to indicate the cater- 

 pillar's hiding-place. The soil that conceals the 

 quarry may be grassy or bare, flinty or earthy, 

 smooth or seamed with little cracks. These 

 varieties of appearance are matters of indiffer- 

 ence to the huntress, who prospects every spot 

 without showing preference for one more than 

 another. At no place where the Wasp stops 

 and digs with some persistency do I see any- 

 thing particular, in spite of all my attention ; 

 and yet there must be a Grey Worm there, as 

 I have but now convinced myself, five times 

 in succession, by lending a helping hand to the 

 insect, which was at first discouraged by a task 

 out of proportion to its strength. Sight, there- 

 fore, is certainly out of the question here. 



What sense, then ? That of touch ? Let us 



