THE WASPS. 305 



-chimneys, forming passages ; each single individual followed 

 its own business with exemplary diligence, without troubling 

 itself with its thousand co-laborers. No description could give 

 an adequate picture of this lively and exciting scene. It was 

 life itself in countless changing shapes. All these busy 

 little creatures seemed to know their tasks, or at least acted 

 as though they were fully conscious of the weighty duty they 

 had to discharge in life. Is it not the same feeling, the 

 same emotion, which is the motive power in every kind of 

 society ? Each feels itself useful, indispensable, even in 

 the lowest position. At the foot of the bank, where were 

 the greatest number of insects, their edifices were seen in 

 all stages of completion, for all the individuals had not come 

 into the world at the same time. Some were making holes, 

 others chimneys, others again were attending to the pro- 

 visioning of their cells. The chimneys, as a rule three 

 centimetres long, are slightly bent or curved on the side 

 towards the ground, so that the rain cannot penetrate, and 

 resemble lace (dentelle faconnee) made out of earthy material, 

 a number of little interstices remaining between the circular 

 cylinders or borders. They are therefore very brittle, while 

 they are sufficiently strong for the insects themselves. 

 When the egg is laid and the cell provisioned, this outer 

 court is immediately destroyed, and the entrance closed up 

 with the materials thereby obtained." 



According to Perty (loc. cit., p. 313), one of the mason 

 wasps has been seen which put on its back a caterpillar trying 

 to hold fast with its feet; just as was described earlier 

 among the ants, and so carried it over the leaves to its 

 nest. 



Similar, but simpler than the mason wasp, and almost 

 exactly as Herr Markel, of Gumbinnen, has described it, 

 is the ever-active common sand wasp (Ammophila sabulosa), 

 belonging to the large family of the solitary butcher wasps, 

 or Sphegidce. It digs a hole in sandy soil, puts in a captive 

 caterpillar or spider, disabled by bite and sting, buries its 

 victim when it has laid an egg thereupon, and covers over 

 both. The larva, hatched in a few days, eats up the half- 

 alive prey, and then spins its cocoon, from which, when the 

 pupa stage is ended, it flies off as a wasp. In Bingley (loc. 

 cit. iv., p. 139) is found a description of the whole proceed- 

 ing, observed by a Mr. Ray, which agrees with that of Herr 



