262 
Psyche 
[June 
ing on, and dragging the gaster over objects were very obviously 
concentrated in one direction away from the swarm. This was 
invariably the direction the swarm would take when it moved. On 
one occasion J. was able to trace these activities to 60 meters in the 
direction the swarm would take nearly an hour later. 
Meanwhile, changes could be observed in behavior at the swarm. 
The level of general activity was greater over that of the morning 
hours. Foragers could still be seen coming and going and exchanging 
with wasps in the swarm, but a new kind of activity was also 
occurring with increasing frequency. From time to time a, worker 
landed on the swarm or on the substrate at the edge of the swarm 
and ran agitatedly among the wasps. During these runs the wings 
were buzzed and the gaster was held low, possibly touching the sub- 
strate, though this could not be confirmed, and frequently the gaster 
was waggled from side to side. Often the running wasp bumped 
into others, but without stopping. Sometimes, but not always, such 
behavior was followed by a noticeable increase in flight activity of 
the swarm as a whole. 
Such periods of heightened activity, both at the swarm and away 
from it, occurred with increasing frequency until the swarm finally 
began to move. This usually began quite suddenly as more and 
more wasps began to take off and fly in large arcs at increasing 
distances from the swarm. Within five minutes all but a few hun- 
dred Wasps had left the old site and were on their way toward the 
new one. 
During movement of the swarm workers were frequently seen 
dragging on prominent objects; this was performed by wasps moving 
both to and from the new swarm site. Many wasps passing a 
given landmark, however, did not land, but merely hovered a few 
centimeters downwind of it before flying on in the direction of the 
new swarm site. Others landed and walked over the surface of the 
object with their gasters raised. 
The moving swarm was so diffuse that it would not catch the 
attention of a person unaware of what was happening, even if he 
were standing in the path of movement. The passage of all the 
wasps past a point along the path took longer than 30 minutes. 
The path followed by the swarm was usually a straight line, 
though on the first day it followed a row of fence posts south for 
the first 30 meters, then turned WSW toward the new site. Here 
there was only low grass along the direct route. Evidently the fence 
posts provided more suitable landmarks even though they did not 
lead directly to the new site. The path may be quite wide. On 
