194 INTELLIGENCE IN INSECTS 



place in essentially the same way as the homing of carrier 

 pigeons, and involves an acquaintance with the locality 

 gained by previous exploration. The Peckhams found that 

 solitary wasps before their first departure from the nest 

 make elaborate " locality studies/' circling around the nest 

 in wider and wider courses and at the same time flying higher 

 and higher in the air. Speaking of an Ammophila which 

 for some time previously had been exploring a garden in 



FIG. 13. A locality study of the wasp Sphex. (After Peckham.) 



search of a place to dig a nest, the Peckhams say, " At last 

 a spot is selected and she begins to dig, but two or three 

 times before the work is completed she goes away for a 

 short flight. When it is done, and covered over, she flies 

 away, but returns again and again within the next few hours 

 to look at the spot and, perhaps, to make some little altera- 

 tion in her arrangements. From this time on, until the 

 caterpillars are stored and the egg laid, she visits her nest 

 several times a day, so that she becomes perfectly familiar 

 with the neighborhood, and it is not surprising, after all, 

 that she is able to carry her prey from any point in her 



