from
her hunting by every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her
work with indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillar
so carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
could only survive through some lucky chance, another devoted herself
to these duties, not only with conscientious thoroughness, but with an
apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching to see.

The method employed by the _Ammophilae_ in stinging their prey is more
complex than that of any other predatory wasp. The larvae with which
they provision their nests are made up of thirteen segments, and each
of these has its own nervous centre or ganglion. Hence if the
caterpillar is to be reduced to a state of immobility, or to state so
nearly approaching immobility that the egg may be safely laid upon it,
a single sting, such as is given by some of the _Pompilidae_ to their
captured spiders, will be scarcely sufficient. All this we knew from
Fabre's "Souvenirs," and yet we were not at all prepared to believe
that any plain American wasp could supply us with such a thrilling
performance as that of the Gallic _hirsuta_, which he so dramatically
describes. We were, however, most anxious to be present at the
all-important moment that we might see for ourselves just how and
where _Ammophila urnaria_ stings her victim.

For a whole week of scorching summer weather we lived in the bean
patch, scorning fatigue. We quoted to each other the example of
Fabre's daughter Claire, whose determination to solve the problem of
_Odynerus_ led to a sun-stroke. We followed scores of wasps as they
hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, we scrambled along
on our hands and knees in our desperate endeavors to keep them in
view, and yet they escaped us. After we had kept one in sight for an
hour or more some sudden flight would carry her far away and all our
labor was lost.

At last, however, our day came. We were doing a little hunting on our
own account, hoping to find some larvae which we could drop in view of
the wasps and thus lead them to display their powers, when we saw an
_urnaria_ fly up from the ground to the underside of a bean leaf and
knock down a small green caterpillar. Breathless with an excitement
which will be understood by those who have tasted the joy of such a
moment, we hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground was
bare, we were close by and could see every motion distinctly.