196 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 
once or twice to an adjoining fir-tree, possibly to procure resin for agglu- 
tinating the whole. Having filled the burrow to a level with the sur- 
rounding earth so as to conceal the entrance, it took two fir-leaves lying 
at hand, and placed them near the orifice, as if to mark the’ place. — Such 
is the anecdote left on record by our illustrious countryman, of whose 
accuracy of observation there can be no doubt." Who that reads it can 
refrain from joining in the reflection which it calls from him, ‘“ Quis hee 
non mihi miretur et stupeat? Quis hujusmodi opera mere machine possit 
attribuere ?”* 
I myself, when walking with a friend some months ago, observed nearly 
similar manceuyres performed by another hymenopterous insect which 
may be called a spider-wasp (Pompilus), which attracted our attention 
as it was dragging a spider to its cell. The attitude in which it carried its 
prey, namely, with its feet constantly upwards ; its singular mode of walk- 
ing, which was backwards, except for a foot or two when it went forwards, 
moving by jerks and making a sort of pause every few steps ; and the asto- 
nishing agility with which, notwithstanding its heavy burthen, it glided over 
.or between the grass, weeds, and other numerous impediments in the 
rough path along which it passed — together formed a spectacle which we 
contemplated with admiration. The distance which we thus observed it to 
traverse was not less than twenty-seven feet; and great part of its journey 
had probably been performed before we saw it. Once or twice, when we 
first noticed it, it laid down the spider, and making a small circuit returned 
and took it up again. But for the ensuing twenty or twenty-five feet it 
never stopped, but proceeded in a direct line for its burrow with the 
utmost speed. When opposite the hole, which was in a sand bank by the 
way side, it made a sharp turn, as evidently aware of being in the neigh- 
bourhood of its abode, but when advanced a little further laid down its 
burthen and went to reconnoitre. At first it climbed up the bank, but, as 
if discovering that this was not the direction, soon returned, and after 
apuihee survey, perceiving the hole, took up the spider and dragged it in 
after it. 
In the two instances above given, one dead caterpillar or spider only was 
deposited in each hole. But an insect described by Reaumur under the 
name of the mason-wasp (Zpipone spinipes), very common in some parts 
of England, after having excavated a burrow, with an ingenuity to which 
on a future occasion I shall draw your attention, places along with its egg 
as food for the future young, about twelve little green grubs without feet, 
which it has carefully selected full grown and conveyed without injuring 
them. You will inquire, Why this difference of procedure? With regard 
to the choice of a number of small grubs rather than of one large cater- 
pillar, what I have said ina former letter on the subject of different species 
of this tribe being appointed to prey upon and thus keep within due limits 
the larve of different kinds of insects, will bea sufficient answer, But one 
circumstance creditable to the talents of the mason-wasp as a skilful pur- 
1 The Rey. Dr. Sutton of Norwich made similar observations upon the proceedings 
of this insect in his garden for two successive seasons, 
2 Rai. Hist. Ins. 254. For an interesting account of the procedures of a female of 
this species in dragging a very large spider up the nearly perpendicular side of a 
sand-bank at least twenty feet high, as well as of other curious facts in the economy 
of sand-wasps, the reader is referred to the very excellent “ Essay on the Indige- 
nous Fossorial Hymenoptera,” by W. I. Shuckard, Wsq., p.77, &c. 
