30 
Some Solitary Wasps of Texas, 
though she stores four to five of these. This is also the case with 
the smaller procera observed by me, for when she brought in the 
third caterpillar she scratched out much sand, bits of wood, etc., 
which she threw away. Finally she pulled out the plug at the bot- 
tom which she laid down close by for use at the final closure. The 
five larger specimens of A. procera observed by me agreed with the 
French hirsuta of Fabre, in that each stored but one large caterpillar 
and was thus relieved of the necessity of closing the nest. Procera 
differs from her French cousin in that she digs her nest before catch- 
ing her prey as two to six hours elapse between the digging of the 
nest and the bringing home of the prey. It is thus seen that the 
habit of closing the nest while the wasp is off searching for her 
prey does not depend on the number or size of the caterpillars but 
seems to have developed independently and to different degrees in 
the different species and is by no means constant for any given 
species. 
At 9 :40 a. m. on July 22d, while busy observing the doings of 
Monedula Carolina I saw a small Ammophila running over the sand 
carrying a good sized caterpillar in her mandibles. She soon 
dropped her victim and flew away, preumably to visit the nest and 
make sure of the road. In a few moments the wasp came back and 
searched v right and left for the caterpillar. Twice she passed within 
two inches of it without noticing it, which would seem to indicate 
a rather weak sense of smell. 
Again the caterpillar was picked up and carried off at the rate 
of five feet a minute over obstructions in the way, to her nest located 
in the shade of a clump of saplings. Here the caterpillar was laid 
down on a smooth surface several inches in diameter where the wasp 
began to open up its nest. Sand and dry twigs and leaves were 
pulled out and cast away promiscuously. The last piece of wood 
brought up was the largest and most compact and was not cast 
away like the others but was carefully laid down near the entrance. 
Ammophila did not forget the caterpillar during these few minutes 
but frequently approached and touched it with her antennae. When 
all was ready the wasp backed into the tunnel, got hold of the 
caterpillar and pulled it down. The caterpillar was sufficiently 
alive to grasp a blade of grass and hold on, but the wasp tugged 
till it had dragged the caterpillar into its grave. 
After remaining inside three minutes, the wasp came out, walked 
around a while and finally picked up the chip which it had taken 
out last and replaced it in the tunnel, reaching down as far as 
possible to press it in. This plug of wood probably served as a 
