1965 ] 
Evans — A mmophila azteca 
7 
marked female studied early in the season, I found not one nest but 
six, all in an area measuring 8X14 cm. This was on July 27, and 
I could not believe that females had been nesting for more than two 
weeks (I began collecting in this area July 4, and took the first 
A. azteca , a male, on July 7) . But if it takes six or seven days to rear 
a larva, this female should have started nesting at least 30 days 
earlier (one nest was still unprovisioned). This example and several 
similar ones made it apparent that some overlapping of successive 
nests must occur. I therefore marked several individuals and at- 
tempted to follow them over several days. Since my observations were 
not absolutely continuous, and since during the one complete day of 
observation I could keep only two wasps under full surveillance, 
because of the wide spacing mentioned earlier, my notes are not 
entirely convincing except in two cases. The arrangement of suc- 
cessive nests of these two individuals is shown in Figs. 6 and 7 > and 
I here present, in abbreviated form, my field notes concerning one of 
them, no. 2030, which I painted with a red spot on July 19. 
July 19. Brought prey at 1100 hrs to site A (Fig. 6). 
July 20. Working on a nest at B. 
July 23. Prey to B at 1530. 
July 25. Prey to nest C at 1630. 
July 29. Inspection followed by final closure at C. 
July 31. Complete day of observation. Arrived in area at 0815. 
0845 : Wasp appeared at site D and made inspection, followed 
by temporary closure. 
1022: Prey to D, followed by what appeared to be a final 
enclosure, including “use of tool” and scraping of sand 
over top for several minutes. Left at 1036. 
1037: Reappeared at same site, walked about, flew off. 
1047: Reappeared at same site, walked over old nest and around 
area until 1050. 
1053 : Back again, walking over nesting arena with her abdomen 
held high; off at 1055. 
1 1 13: Reappeared and began to remove closure at E. This 
appeared to be a rather thorough temporary closure. After 
a brief “inspection” she made a hasty temporary closure 
and left at 1120. 
1237: Back to E with a sawfly larva; opened nest and drew it 
in within one minute of arrival. At closure three pebbles 
were “tried for size” before finding one which fit the bore 
of the burrow properly. Left at 1240. 
1 355 : Back to E with another sawfly larva. After introducing 
