A noble Wasp. 163 



Band wasps, put away a store of insects or spiders, 

 partially paralyzed, as a provision for the grub till 

 it reaches the pupa state ; it actually supplies the 

 grub with fresh-caught insects as long as food is 

 required, killing the prey it captures outright, and 

 bringing it in to its young; so that its habits, in 

 this particular, are more bird- than wasp-like. 



The wasp lays its solitary egg at the extremity 

 of a hole it excavates for itself on a bare hard piece 

 of ground, and many holes are usually found close 

 together. When the grub — for I have never been 

 able to find more than one in a hole — has come out 

 from the egg, the parent begins to bring in insects, 

 carefully filling up the mouth of the hole with loose 

 earth after every visit. Without this precaution, 

 which entails a vast amount of labour, I do not 

 believe one grub out of every fifty would survive, 

 so overrun are these barren spots of ground used 

 as breeding-places with hunting spiders, ants, and 

 tiger-beetles. The grub is a voracious eater, but 

 the diligent mother brings in as much as it can 

 devour. I have often found as many as six or 

 seven insects, apparently fresh killed, and not yet 

 touched by the pampered little glutton, coiled up in 

 the midst of them waiting for an appetite. 



The Monedula is an adroit fly-catcher, for 

 though it kills numbers of fire-flies and other insects, 

 flies are always preferred, possibly because they are 

 so little encumbered with wings, and are also more 

 easily devoured. It occasionally captures insects 

 on the wing, but the more usual method is to 

 pounce down on its prey when it is at rest. At 

 one time, before I had learnt their habits, I used 



