1965] 
Evans — Ammophila azteca 
21 
Notes on Ammophila macra. — As noted earlier, a single female 
of the large species A. macra Cresson was found nesting on the 
periphery of the azteca nesting area at Jackson Hole. She was seen 
digging her nest at noo on August 14. The soil was taken from the 
burrow in lumps much as in azteca , but it was carried over the ground 
and deposited in a diffuse pile 6-14 cm from the hole. At 1115 the 
wasp selected a large stone and placed it in the burrow (which was 
fully 1 cm in diameter). She then dropped in several small pebbles 
and proceeded to scrape in sand, from time to time turning around 
and packing the sand in place with her head while making a loud 
buzzing sound. When the burrow was nearly full, she added several 
more stones, pressing each into place. Finally, she dug soil from a 
small, semicircular hole 3 cm from the entrance, making a shallow 
quarry or “false burrow”, and scraping this soil into the nest entrance. 
This was packed into place by holding a stone in her mandibles and 
pounding, finally leaving the stone in place. The wasp then picked 
up a stick 4 cm long and dragged it over the top of the covered nest 
entrance, then added a second stick 7 cm long. She completed the 
closure at 1135 and was not seen again. The nest was dug out two 
days later and found to contain a single large sphingid larva ( Smerin - 
thus geminatus Say) bearing an egg on the side of the fourth ab- 
dominal segment (Fig. 9, upper figure). The burrow was vertical, 
6 cm long, the cell horizontal and 5 cm long. 
Thus this species differs from azteca in several important features: 
the soil is carried from the nest on the ground ( and the prey doubtless 
carried on the ground) ; some of the soil for closure is obtained from 
a quarry and various objects are placed on top of the closed nest; and 
the nest is stocked with a single large caterpillar, thus eliminating the 
possibility of progressive provisioning or of the overlappng of pro- 
visioning of successive nests. A. macra bears a close resemblance to 
the well-studied species procera Dahlbom, and the behavior is similar 
to that species, although procera more commonly flies with the soil 
when digging. 
Summary. — Ammophila azteca differs from other known North 
American species of its genus in that several nests are maintained 
simultaneously; in this respect it bears a close resemblance to the 
European species puhescens. Data indicate that at least two and at 
times probably three or more nests in various stages are maintained 
at one time, the female remembering the precise location of each and 
inspecting each nest, or at least most nests, each day before provision- 
ing. The total duration of each nest is six or seven days. 
The prey consists of caterpillars and sawfly larva of many diverse 
