THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



211 



are as useful as the foot proper to catch 

 against anything that may afford a 

 hold. The loose soil outside a burrow 

 ap})ears to offer the greatest difficulty 

 since it offers no foothold for the was]). 

 I have seen a cicada abandoned after a 

 struggle lasting several minutes, and 

 their dead bodies are not uncommon 

 around the burrows. 



Having once secured its prize, the 

 wasp is not willing to lose it without a 

 struggle. One which I caught soon 

 after it had come to the ground would 

 not loose its hold upon the cicada even 

 in the folds of the net, but struggled 

 around with the captive while endeav- 

 ouring to find a way of escape, even 

 though the wasja weighed but fifteen 

 grains, while the cicada turned the 

 scale at thirty-tAVo. 



Each wasp recognises its own burrow, 

 and avoids trespassing into that of a 

 neighbour. Though its course may take 

 it past the mouths of several other 

 burrows, it rarelv hesitates. On one 



occasion I noticed a wasp dragging a 

 cicada up a sand hea]) in Avhich there 

 were two burrows within a few inches 

 of one another. It came first to the 

 wrong opening and, after momentarily 

 hesitating at the entrance, turned 

 round in a circle so that it came back 

 to the same tunnel. Eut it refused to 

 enter and made off again to its own 

 burrow, into which it quickly disap- 

 peared with its prey. 



Again, I once saw two wasps, each 

 with a captive cicada, travelling along 

 within a few inches of each other. 

 Their struggling with the coarse grass, 

 brought them into collision, but they 

 seemed far too interested in their work 

 to notice each other. One, getting a 

 little ahead, passed over the sand 

 around the mouth of a burrow, but 

 without hesitation, passed on to his 

 own. The other then arrived and 

 turned in with such certainty that no 

 doubt was left as to its being the proper 

 owner. Once, when I was photograph- 



A wasp dragging a paralyzed cicada to its burrow. 



[Photo. — A. R. McCulloch. 



