WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



41 



or food for the grubs that were hatching, 

 probably for both. I endeavored to find out 

 what kind of food it was they were bringing 

 home. It was either in too minute parcels 

 or taken into the mouth in such a way I 

 could not determine. On one occasion, how- 

 ever, I obtained a glimpse of an insect held 

 in the jaws of one of the returning wasps, that 

 appeared to be a small fly or gnat, but of 

 that I could not be positive. 



There were a number of Polistes' nests in 

 the neighborhood and many of the wasps 

 were to be seen at all times during the mid- 

 dle part of the day scouting around the outer 

 branches and leaves of the large valley oak 

 trees in our yard, which seemed to be In- 

 fested by numbers of small insects. The ac- 

 tions of the wasps suggested that their pres- 

 ence there was for the purpose of capturing 

 some of the insects. 



Quite often during the day all the wasps, 

 but one, belonging to my bottle family, would 

 be away. At no time did I ever find the nest 

 wholly unguarded. 



By the addition to the family mentioned 

 the number of workers was materially in- 

 creased, and an enlargement of the nest was 

 noticeable. Cells started by the mother or 

 queen wasp were completed and several new 

 ones were added to the group. 



Fearing something might happen to inter- 

 fere with the progress and prosperity of the 

 family if I left the bottle on the ground, I 

 planned to change the location by placing 

 it on a shelf on the side of the house, about 

 five feet above where it had been on the 

 ground. I made the change after dark. The 

 next morning early I found that all the mem- 

 bers were on the nest and so far undisturbed 

 by the removal of the bottle containing their 

 home. However, by noontime I found all 

 but one were away and I waited a couple of 

 hours or more in vain for the return of the 

 absentees, but none came back. Evidently 

 the family did not intend to acquiesce in my 

 purpose to place their nest in a safer posi- 

 tion. Upon examination of the location 

 where the bottle had been for several days I 

 found some of the wasps at rest on the under 

 side of the flooring of the porch while one 

 was flying slowly around the spot as if try- 

 ing to find out what had become of the nest 

 or to satisfy itself that the nest had surely 

 disappeared. I then returned the bottle to 

 its former place on the ground and within a 

 half-hour all the wasps were back on the 

 nest. I repeated my attempt to make a per- 

 manent change of location the next night and 

 for the three following nights but my efforts 

 were unsuccessful. The results were the 

 same each day. Then I concluded to let the 

 bottle remain on the ground. The only way 

 that I could account for the fact that the 

 nest could be moved seventeen miles and not 

 be abandoned when the inmates were re- 

 leased, and not moved six feet without con- 

 trary results, was the thought that in the 

 first instance the surroundings were in every 

 detail altered, while in the latter case the 

 only change in surroundings was that made 



by the slight change of location of the bottle. 

 The house porch, trees, shrubs, vines and 

 grass, the location of which they had become 

 familiar with, were all there just as they had 

 always been in their experience, and their 

 intelligence was not great enough for them 

 to remember that they had left the nest from 

 another location, or in other words recognize 

 the fact that a change had been made when 

 they flew out of the bottle in the mornings. 



For two or three days and nights nothing 

 happened to disturb the family, when early 

 one morning just before daybreak I heard a 

 noise under the porch which made me think 

 that possibly a skunk was attacking the wasp 

 nest. I got out as quickly as possible to res- 

 cue my pets if necessary. It was not yet light 

 enough to see all objects clearly, but I heard 

 a noise such as a small animal going through 

 the brush and dry leaves would make, so con- 

 cluded whatever it was it had been frightened 

 away and I returned to my bed. When I 

 arose for the day the first thing was to visit 

 the wasp family. To my sorrow and great dis- 

 appointment I found the bottle bottom side 

 up down the embankment several feet from 

 the porch. A hasty examination showed the 

 stem by which the nest was attached to the 

 bottle to be broken and the group of cells with 

 their contents hanging by but little more than 

 a thread, so that it swung and swayed with 

 the least movement of the bottle. I moved 

 the bottle with the greatest care and placed it 

 so the nest would hang as # near its normal 

 position as possible. Several wasps were in 

 the bottle. I did not count them. I was 

 intent upon getting the nest and bottle back 

 to its place under the porch. 



After breakfast I visited the wasps, wonder- 

 ing what they would do or how they would 

 be affected by the damage done to their nest. 

 I rather expected to find that the thread or 

 fibre that had been holding the nest in sus- 

 pension was broken, and that the nest 

 would be found lying on the bottom of the 

 bottle. I was unprepared for what I did see, 

 for it was wholly inconsistent with the result 

 of Fabre's experiments with the mason bees. 

 To my surprise and great satisfaction, I found 

 one of the wasps carefully examining the 

 break in the stem. By the rapid and .nervous 

 working of her antennae around and about 

 the broken stem I judged that these append- 

 ages were playing no small part in the ex- 

 amination. I at once surmised that this pre- 

 liminary inspection meant that something 

 more interesting was soon to follow, so I care- 

 fully replaced the bottle, then afterwards 

 made frequent visits to it. Every time I made 

 an observation of the condition of things in 

 the bottle during the next two days I saw one 

 or two wasps working around the damaged 

 stem. In short, the wasps were repairing the 

 damage by renewing the stem at the broken 

 place. At the end of the two days the work 

 •>f repair, so far as I could see, was com- 

 oleted. When I picked up the bottle I found 

 l he nest to be firmlv suspended once more by 

 he renewed stem. The wasps set up a buzzing 

 remonstrance at my familiarity with their 



