50 
Psyche 
[April 
Nest No. 2. 3 Scarcely 24 hours had passed after the 
tubes had been placed out, when a wasp was seen (June 13) 
entering one of them carrying mud or gravel which she got at a 
driveway 25 feet distant. Between each trip for gravel, which 
always took several minutes, she took a shorter flight which I 
could not follow, probably to her water supply. She continued 
in this way from four until five o’clock P. M., when I was obliged 
to leave. At six P. M. she entered her nest carrying beneath 
her body a small green caterpillar, which she quickly deposited, 
then flew away. Between six and seven o’clock she made about 
six or seven visits to her nest, each time bearing a similar cater - 
pillar. One of her absences from the nest was of only two or 
three minutes duration, but usually she did not meet with such 
prompt success. She spent no more time within the nest than 
would allow her to deposit her prey. From this time on I ob- 
served her only sufficiently to state that she worked quite con- 
sistently for the next two days and completed her nest at some 
time just previous to four P. M. on June 15. 
Nest No. 3. On June 16 at four P. M. a wasp of this species? 
possibly the same one as described above, was seen to enter one 
of the nesting places not far from nest No. 2. An examination of 
the tube at this time showed two cells already completed. Out" 
side the closing partition of the second cell was a third egg and a 
single caterpillar. The wasp continued to work until seven P* 
M. at which time she had nearly completed the closure of her 
third cell. During the night she did not occupy the nest as these 
wasps commonly do, possibly because there was hardly sufficient 
room. Indeed, it seemed that she would not be able to construct 
an additional cell in such a limited space. Observations at 5:30 
and at 7 :30 the next morning showed that the wasp had not re- 
sumed her work, but by 8:30 she had already finished the closing 
partition of the third cell and had laid her fourth egg. During 
the morning she caught and deposited three caterpillars and at 
10:45 she brought the bit of cement that would have closed the 
last cell had I not captured her for identification before she had 
been able to apply it. 
3The numbers designating the nests described in this paper are the original ones used in my 
field notes; they are thus not consecutive. 
