JUNE 137 



the wasp, being as careful a housewife as she is an 

 intrepid huntress, closes the burrow, neatly replacing 

 the select bits of gravel which hide the entrance, and 

 flies off. Whether she has other burrows to dig — 

 other nurseries to found — I know not. The difficulty 

 of ascertaining this baffled the industry even of the 

 indefatigable Fabre, for no means has been devised 

 whereby one Ammophila could be distinguished from 

 another of the same species and sex ; but it is highly 

 improbable that the race could be maintained if each 

 mother laid but a single egg, especially as the parent 

 does not survive the winter. That is the pathetic — the 

 tragic — part of this and many other insect histories. 

 The creature spends her whole strength, exercises extra- 

 ordinary ingenuity, and devotes her whole free life in 

 providing for the welfare of offspring which she shall 

 never see. 



I cannot finish this brief and imperfect summary of 

 the life history of Ammophila without referring to the 

 wonderful precision with which, after flying hither and 

 thither in search of her special prey, she finds her way 

 back to the burrow which she probably evacuated the 

 day, or two or three days, before. This has been so 

 graphically described by Mr. and Mrs. Peckham that I 

 must crave their indulgence and quote the passage. 

 They had found Am/mophila urnaria hunting for 

 prey in a friend's garden in Wisconsin, U.S.A. 



'We followed her easily, and as she was in full view 

 nearly all the time we had every hope of witnessing the 

 capture; but in this we were destined to disappointment. 

 We had been in attendance on her for about a quarter of an 



