POTENT PERSONALITIES— WASPS AND HORNETS 



49 



unsuspicious and 

 slow to take of- 

 fense. These are 

 young caterpillar 

 wasps, for which 

 as yet life means 

 little more than 

 feeding on nectar 

 in full enjoyment 

 of the summer 

 sunshine. 



Lazy, slow- 

 moving creatures, 

 with an air of 

 complete bore- 

 dom, they could 

 scarcely appear 

 less interesting or 

 more slothful. 

 But while thev 

 are spending 

 their time in friv- 

 olous enjoyment 

 they are develop- 

 ing strength and 

 energy and ac- 

 quiring a knowl- 

 edge of the 

 world. 



Energy finally 

 gets the upper 

 hand, and the fe- 

 male forsakes the 

 flowers almost 

 completely. The 

 first thing she 

 does on becoming 

 energetic is to 

 find a patch of 

 bare, stiff soil , 

 more or less pro- 

 tected, and there 

 dig a burrow end- 

 ing in an enlarged chamber, oval in shape 

 and horizontal. 



After the burrow is completed the wasp 

 closes the opening with a little stone or a 

 pellet of earth of just the right size, or 

 sometimes with several pellets, filling the 

 hole up level with the ground and often 

 kicking some loose earth over it. 



Her burrow completed, closed, and con- 

 cealed from view, she now goes in search 

 of prey — caterpillars found on or near the 

 ground. Our commonest one prefers green 

 caterpillars much larger than herself. 



When a caterpillar is discovered the wasp 

 knocks it off the leaf onto the ground. 



l'hotn«ra|)h b\- t^aul (Iriswold Hi.ut-s 

 EIGHT FLOORS IN A 4()-ST0RY "WALK-UP" APARTMKNT HOUSE 



Each floor of the skyscraper (oppo.site page) is securely anchored to the 

 stronK outer wall, and all are connected by passageways in lieu of stairs and 

 elevators. In these crowded tiers young wasps are reared. 



Then, watching her chance, .she seizes it 

 with her mandibles near its head and gives 

 it a prolonged sting between two of the 

 earlier segments. This ends the struggles 

 of the caterpillar. 



The wasp then stings its victim between 

 the other earlier segments and between most 

 or all of the hinder segments. The stinging 

 is followed by a thorough squeezing of the 

 neck between the mandibles all around, 

 this squeezing process lasting for some time. 



The caterpillar, reduced to complete in- 

 ertness and lying extended at full length, 

 is now ready to be transported to the bur- 

 row. The wasp turns it on its back; then. 



