144 



UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



THE LOCUST'S GREATEST ENEMY 



Nature never seems to make a good big 

 creature of any kind but she plants near him 

 a deadly enemy. It seems a wasteful plan 

 of working, but it turns out well in the end. 

 Steadily and relentlessly every weak crea- 

 ture is cut off in his early prime and leaves 

 behind him no progeny to continue his 

 particular weaknesses, while the alert and 

 active animal earns a lengthened life for him- 

 self and a more probable immunity for his 

 posterity. This effective duty of removing 

 delinquents is performed for the locust by a 

 most savage and unrelenting foe in the shape 

 of a long yellow and black banded wasp with 

 reddish wings and a body fully an inch long. 



THE DIGGER WASP 



Persons who live in Virginia or Mary- 

 land, or even in southern Pennsylvania and 

 New Jersey, will find frequently in July 

 that a large wasp of this kind is digging 

 holes in their lawns and disfiguring the 

 grass plots with large quantities of freshly 

 dug earth. This the wasp has kicked 



