32 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
hold on until they are thrown out. It 
was evident, at a glance, that the wasp 
had gone down the hole of the doodlebug, 
and that the doodlebug soon had him in 
his strong grip at great disadvantage, and 
where the wings of the wasp were of no 
advantage to him except to make a noise, 
which might alarm his adversary. The 
contest lasted full two minutes, when 
finally the dirtdauber came out with a 
jerk. He flew but a few inches from the 
hole, lit upon the ground, rubbed his 
head, and fairly danced with pain. 
In a few moments he recovered from 
the effects of his wounds, and began 
making short circles over the hole, evi- 
dently reconnoitering and laying his 
plans. Presently, lighting at the mouth 
of the hole, he tried the earth all about 
the entrance with the skill of an engineer, 
and, selecting that which was driest, he 
began to scratch like a dog with his fore 
feet, throwing the dust rapidly backward 
into the hole. We watched with intense 
interest, and could not but admire his 
pluck and determination, for we imagined 
this throwing of dust on his adversary's 
head was only to provoke him to a fresh 
fight. Every now and then he would stop 
and take a cautious peep down the hole 
to observe the effect of his operations. 
We expected every moment to see him 
descend and make another attack, but it 
soon became manifest that such was not 
his intention, and it gradually dawned 
upon us that he had a strategic mode of 
attack based upon the soundest principles 
of philosophy, reason, and a thorough 
knowledge of his adversary, and of the 
means he was using to render his resist- 
ance futile and make him an easy captive. 
By throwing fine dust into the hole the 
doodlebug would soon be smothered, as it 
was necessary that he should have free 
air, unless he climbed upward, as he 
would do. Whenever the worm worked 
upward to get his head above, the fine 
dust fell behind him, and thus slowly 
closed up his hole, until, blinded with 
dust, he poked his head out at the top. 
This was the point aimed at, and the mo- 
ment he showed his head above, the wasp 
pounced upon him, seized him by the 
neck, drew him up, gathered him in his 
arms, and flew off in triumph, though the s 
worm was much the largest of the two. i 
Struck with amazement at the sagacity, 
science, skill and engineering ability of ' 
the dirtdauber, we carefully sounded the ] 
hole, and found that in the course of five , 
minutes this reasoning insect had filled in 
five inches of dust, and put his formidable 
adversary completely at his mercy. 
The most skilful engineers could not 
have thrown up earthworks with a pro- 
founder calculation than this natural en- 
gineer.— iVei^ Orleans Co-operative News. 
A Fine Cabinet for Nothing. 
BY C. LE R. W^HEELER. 
MANY persons who are interested in 
Natural History are deterred from 
attempting to make a collection of speci- 
mens to illustrate and help forward their 
studies, for the reason that they deem it 
too expensive. My purpose in writing 
this article is to prove that a genuine in- 
terest, a resolute will, and untiring labor, 
will secure for any person a fine collection 
to illustrate at least some of the branches 
of Natural History at a very slight ex- 
pense; and in some cases, my own for 
example, at ??o expense ivhatever. 
In the summer of 1876 I returned from 
the West, bringing with me about seventy- 
five specimens of minerals. One of the 
first things that I noticed, upon coming 
to this place, was a beautiful piece of iron 
quartz lying in a minister's study. Upon 
inquiry, I found that it came from a 
quarry near by. I visited this quarry 
and others in the vicinity, and found large 
quantities of rose, greasy, smoky, and 
white quartz, orthoclase and graphic 
granite, and many interesting forms of 
gneiss, granite, and syenite. I began col- 
lecting and exchanging at once. One of 
my first exchanges was with the late Rev. 
E. Seymour, of New York. I next ar- 
ranged to send several tons of minerals 
and rocks to the large Natural History 
establishment of Prof. H. A. Ward, of 
Rochester, N. Y. In exchange, I received 
all that I had expended in cash, and 
mostly the entire academic set of minerals 
described in Prof. Ward's catalogue, and 
I have nearly all of his fine set of rocks 
