WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



75 



entrance of the nest. Two or three times after 

 she had resumed her labors she took occasion 

 on her outward trips to make further inspec- 

 tion of my person by circling around, then 

 alighting on the ground, eyeing me. When ap- 

 parently satisfied that my presence meant no 

 interference with her plans she would resume 

 the work of excavation. In 20 minutes she 

 had deepened the hole so that when she went 

 down she was entirely out of sight; all of her 

 actions were rapid and when on the ground 

 were accompanied by nervous flipping of the 

 wings. 



While watching Mrs. Ammophila's flights 

 out of the hole, flipping her loads away from 

 the entrance, scattering the debris so there 

 would be no accumulation in any one place 

 to mark the presence of her nest, then her 

 dash back, all with such lightning-like speed 

 that it was with difficulty I followed her ac- 

 tions, I became aware there was another in- 

 tensely interesting feature of the performance 

 going on before me. A small insect, a species 

 of fly, somewhat smaller than the ordinary 

 house fly, was present and also deeply inter- 

 ested in the operations of the wasp. First let 

 me explain the purpose of the presence of the 

 little pest, then there will be more interest in 

 detailing its actions. It seems it is the habit 

 of this fly, when it can, to deposit an egg, or 

 eggs, on the caterpillar thta the Ammophila 

 captures and stores in her nest. Of course 

 the fly is no match in a scrap with the wasp, 

 and it is compelled to accomplish its object by 

 stealth. It seemed to equal the wasp in intelli- 

 gence and rapidity of action. By its maneuvers 

 on this occasion it appeared to be trying to 

 enter the hole during the brief absence of the 

 owner or it may have been only making 

 momentary observations of the progress of the 

 work of the wasp so as to be on hand at the 

 proper moment. For a greater part of the time 

 it occupied positions not more than five or six 

 inches from the hole. From these points it 

 would fly to the mouth of the hole but get 

 back out of the way before the return of the 

 owner, and several times while the wasp was 

 working down in the excavation the little pest 

 would fly to the hole and hover over the 

 mouth until the buzzing of the wasp gave 

 notice of its coming out, then it would retreat 

 as before. By the quick alteration of the 

 position of the fly, first this way, then that, 

 it could be seen that it was keenly watching 

 every movement of the wasp, but it took care 

 not to get within reach of it. 



By this time I had acquired a reclining 

 position with my head barely a foot from the 

 ground, and the little fly very accommodat- 

 ingly on one of its returns from the hole lit on 

 the ground under my eyes. I not only had a 

 chance to note its peculiarities and possibly 

 determine the species, but more clearly per- 

 ceived the cunning and artful character it 

 possessed. With lightning-like rapidity it fol- 

 lowed every movement of the wasp and when 

 the latter disappeared in the hole the fly in 

 a flash was hovering over the place. 



I spread a piece of cloth on the ground 

 within the radius of the distribution of the 

 debris the wasp was bringing out so I might 



recover some of the material she was exca- 

 vating. When she came out and saw the cloth 

 she appeared somewhat disturbed and flew 

 around it several times, then lit upon it and 

 walked around until apparently satisfied it 

 boded no harm. Some of the material was 

 earth and some rock, and in size ranged from 

 the dimensions of a pin-head to a pea. I was 

 interested to know how she held the stuff 

 while carrying it out, whether by her man- 

 dibles, her feet and legs, or by the aid of both. 

 While she was on the wing her actions were 

 so rapid that it was impossible to determine, 

 but finally she came slowly backing out of 

 the hole with a load that appeared to be about 

 all she could handle. This proved to be a 

 piece of rock about one-quarter of an inch in 

 diameter. She carried it free from the ground 

 in her mandibles, which looked like miniature 

 ice tongs. This and what I afterwards saw 

 showed that her mandibles only were the 

 appendages utilized. It was marvelous to see 

 how dexterous and skillful she was in their 

 use. 



As I understood that the Ammophila digs a 

 hole only about three inches deep, I thought 

 my wasp must be nearly through with that 

 part of her work. Then again it was getting 

 late in the afternoon when the heat of the 

 day had passed and the majority of the wasp 

 family cease work and seek some secluded 

 place where they remain until the warmth of 

 another day invites them to further activities. 

 So I felt sure the monotony of the digging 

 operations would soon end and I should wit- 

 ness some other of the intelligent acts of this 

 curious insect. The increased activity of the 

 little fly in following the movements of the 

 wasp indicated it shared in the same thought. 



We had not long to wait for Mrs. Ammo- 

 phila to flip out her last load of dirt. When 

 that happened, instead of going down into 

 the hole, she lit near the mouth of it and 

 walked around rapidly with a nervous flipping 

 of her wings, and suddenly seized a pebble 

 nearly as large as the end of my little finger 

 and in less time than it takes to tell it carried 

 it to the hole and dropped it into the entrance. 

 The piece of rock lodged in the mouth of 

 the hole a quarter of an inch below the sur- 

 face of the ground outside. Now came further 

 exhibition of the wonderful mental power pos- 

 sessed by the wasp. To complete the filling 

 up of the mouth of the opening and make it 

 uniform with the surrounding surface of the 

 ground required some further work on her 

 part. Apparently she deemed it necessary to 

 protect the nest from invasion by other insects 

 to close the entrance tight by a bit of masonry 

 work and thus remove all indication of the 

 existence of her domicile. This work she com- 

 pleted in a way that astonished me in the 

 rapidity of action and the mechanical perfec- 

 tion of its execution. Out of the numerous 

 little fragments of broken rock lying within a 

 radius of four or five inches of the entrance 

 to the hole she selected five pieces, three small 

 and two larger. She walked quickly around 

 among the fragments looking for the pieces of 

 the size needed and without hesitation or de- 

 lay picked them up one by one and carried 



