INSECTS 



i8S 



animal food, and here the parent wasp shows a rigid con- 

 servatism, each species providing the sort of food that has 

 been approved by its family for generations, one taking 

 flies, another bugs, and another beetles, caterpillars, grass- 



FlG. 141. — Nesting grounds of Aminophila in the salt marshes of San 

 Francisco Bay. (From nature. ) 



hoppers, crickets, locusts, spiders, cockroaches, aphids, 

 or other creatures as the case may be. 



" The solitary wasps mate shortly after leaving the 

 nest, in the spring or summer. The males are irrespon- 



-^r?t..^i 



Fig. \\2.— Aminophila putting inch-worm into nest-burrow. (Natural size; 



from life.) 



sible creatures, aiding little, if at all, in the care of the 

 family. When the egg-laying time arrives the female 

 secures her prey, which she either kills or paralyzes, 

 places it in the nest, lays the ^^g upon it, and then, in 



