WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



71 



scouting around on the wing, flying low 

 among the stubble. I concluded it was hunt- 

 ing for food for its young so watched it 

 closely. Finally I saw it pounce down upon 

 an object partially hidden from my view by 

 pieces of straw. The attack was made within 

 four feet from where I stood. I quickly 

 dropped to the ground that I might get a 

 near view of the action. I saw that the wasp 

 had seized an insect as large as itself and 

 plainly witnessed the application of its sting 

 twice, curving its abdomen under the vic- 

 tim both times. Without any delay the wasp 

 severed the head of the captive insect and 

 flew off with it in a northeasterly direction. 

 I then picked up the remains and found that 

 the victim was a domestic or honey bee. 



From previous observations in similar cases 

 I concluded the wasp, knowing the bee, intact, 

 was too large to carry off to its nest, had 

 dismembered it to make the task easier, and 

 would masticate the parts to put them in 

 condition for food for its grubs while on the 

 journey home, therefore in time would return 

 for the remains of the victim. In about five 

 minutes it came back and this time it quickly 

 cut off the abdomen and flew away with it. 

 In about ten minutes more it returned again 

 and picked up the thorax, all that remained of 

 the bee, and rising to a height of six feet or 

 more flew off in the same direction as be- 

 fore. On its return trips it gave no evidence 

 of trouble or difficulty in locating its vic- 

 tim. It came flying close to the ground 

 zigzagging about six or eight inches, finally 

 dropping at the exact spot. After its second 

 trip I killed a common house fly and laid it 

 down within a couple of inches of the re- 

 mains of the bee. In a moment or so I saw 

 another wasp scouting around among the 

 stubble in the same manner observed in the 

 first one. It soon discovered the fly and 

 bee, which caused me to think it was the 

 owner of the bee. However, when it lit it only 

 nosed the fly and bee and then flew away. 

 While pondering over the unexpected action 

 of the visitor I noticed the first wasp on its 

 way back. Ordinarily yellow jackets do not 

 appear so considerate of property rights; 

 they seem ready to take anything in the meat 

 line when and wherever they find it, though 

 this practice may be due to the character of 

 ownership. They may have the habit of re- 

 spect of title where it rests in one of their 

 own kind as instanced above, and not be so 

 particular when it is otherwise. 



On the same day while passing a bank which 

 was thickly covered with blackberry vines, my 

 attention was attracted to a slight fluttering 

 of a large insect which appeared to be 

 entangled in a thinly spun web of a spider. 

 Now, I thought, something is about to take 

 place that will prove of interest as well as 

 yield some information. I stepped up close, 

 moving as slowly and quietly as possible, so 

 as not to have the intrusion of my presence 

 influence the event or what might take place. 

 Upon examination I found that a wasp of the 

 family Polistes was in among the threads of 

 the web hanging on to them with the middle 

 and hind legs, while she was using the pair 



of fore legs and mandibles, or jaws, in secur- 

 ing possession of a small baby grasshopper that 

 had become helplessly entangled in the web. 

 The wasp finally succeeded in getting through 

 the meshes of the web to a position where 

 she could seize the little grasshopper. It 

 was apparently dead. Whether the wasp had 

 stung it to death or it had been previously 

 killed by the spider and left on the web, I 

 could not tell. As soon as the Polistes got 

 hold of it she began to sever the abdomen 

 from the rest of the body of the insect. She 

 was not nearly so clever in this butchering 

 process as the yellow jacket. In the operation 

 she required more minutes than the ger- 

 manica did seconds. It is only fair to say 

 that the latter wasp is better equipped with 

 tools for that kind of work, in the shape and 

 keenness of her mandibles., 



When Mrs. Polistes finally succeeded in 

 separating the body she took a good hold of 

 the chosen part with her jaws and began 

 her efforts to extricate herself from the 

 spider's web. This was no easy job. She did 

 not appear excited nor did she show any evi- 

 dence of fear of trouble in getting out. She 

 seemed to understand just what was neces- 

 sary to do and how to go about it. Her 

 progress was rather slow and at times she 

 found it necessary to use the propelling power 

 of her wings as an aid in the operation. The 

 unusual shaking of the web brought the spider 

 running out to find what kind of game had 

 been entangled in her net. However, the 

 sight of the wasp quickly brought her to a 

 standstill and she remained stationary at a 

 safe distance watching proceedings. Finally 

 the wasp got past all of the troublesome 

 threads and attempted to fly away with her 

 booty, but a strong thread still attached to 

 the fragment of the grasshopper brought her 

 to standstill, though on the wing. With 

 engine in reverse she backed and tugged until 

 finally the thread yielded to the persistent 

 strain. 



The wasp seemed somewhat exhausted from 

 her" exertions, for she lit on a broad leaf 

 within a foot of the spiderweb and proceeded 

 to brush and clean her body with her legs and 

 feet, all the time with her jaws holding on 

 to the morsel that she had worked so hard to 

 obtain. After the cleaning process was com- 

 pleted she proceeded to eat out the soft part 

 of the grasshopper s abdomen, discarding the 

 undigestable outside covering. A remarkable 

 feature of the proceedings was the way she 

 held the part with her forefeet while she used 

 her mandibles to dig out the meat. The action 

 reminded me of a squirrel eating a nut. The 

 middle and hind pairs of legs gave all the 

 support needed to her body, so she was free 

 to use the pair of fore legs with their feet as 

 one would his arms and hands, which she 

 did most cleverly. Upon completing the work 

 she flew away. 



I find very little in the accounts of other 

 observers as to the character of food that the 

 Polistes eat. Probably so because of the diffi- 

 culty of finding out. I have seen this species 

 of wasp on fruit, especially ripe, sweet fruit, 

 apparently partaking of the juices. I have 



