314 COURAGE OF WASPS. 
three octaves, with a shrill whistle, a pipe, a violin, and 
my own voice, making in each case the loudest and 
shrillest sounds in my power, I could see no symptoms 
in any case that they were conscious of the noise. 
The following fact struck me as rather remarkable. 
One of my wasps smeared her wings with syrup, so that 
she could not fly. When this happened to a bee, it was 
only necessary to carry her to the alighting-board, when 
she was soon cleaned by her comrades. But I did not. 
know where this wasp’s nest was, and therefore could 
not pursue a similar course with her. At first, then, 
I was afraid that she was doomed. I thought, however, 
that I would wash her, fully expecting, indeed, to terrify 
her so much that she would not return again. I there- 
fore caught her, put her in a bottle half full of water, 
and shook her up well till the honey was washed off. I 
then transferred her to another bottle, and put her in 
the sun to dry. When she appeared to have recovered 
I let her out: she at once flew to her nest, and 
I never expected to see her again. To my surprise, in 
thirteen minutes she returned as if nothing had hap- 
pened, and continued her visits to the honey all the 
afternoon. 
This experiment interested me so much that I re 
peated it with another marked wasp, this time, how- 
ever, keeping the wasp in the water till she was quite 
motionless and insensible. When taken out of the 
water she soon recovered; I fed her; she went quietly 
away to her nest as usual, and returned after the usual 
