. The American entomologist. Entomology. 126 THEJ5AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. little bag of poison attached to it, the female Dig-ger AVasp, even since the creation of the world, has been doing the very same thing in its own department of life. Yet, because the ani- mal is comparatively a small one, we overlook and despise the beaut)^ and simplicity of the process by wliich it works. In reality, however, this process is just as wonderfully ingenious, as if a ship-owner had the power of i^rovisioning liis ship with living sheep and living oxen, man- ipulated in such a manner that they could be packe
. The American entomologist. Entomology. 126 THEJ5AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. little bag of poison attached to it, the female Dig-ger AVasp, even since the creation of the world, has been doing the very same thing in its own department of life. Yet, because the ani- mal is comparatively a small one, we overlook and despise the beaut)^ and simplicity of the process by wliich it works. In reality, however, this process is just as wonderfully ingenious, as if a ship-owner had the power of i^rovisioning liis ship with living sheep and living oxen, man- ipulated in such a manner that they could be packed in the ship's hold like so many hogs- heads ; that they should require no food or atten- dance there, and neither kick nor struggle nor bellow nor bloat, but lie perfectly still; and yet that, whenever wanted for food, they could be hauled up out of the ship's hold and converted at pleasure into good fresh juicy beef and mutton. In some cases, a single caterpillar, or spider, forms snffioient food for a single larva; and then the nest is provisioned with only a single indi- vidual. Sometimes, when such an animalistoo large and heavy to be transported through the air, certaiii Digger Wasps (genera Ammophila, iSphex, and Pompiliis) have been observed to drag it along the surface of the earth, after the manner in which the tumble-dungs work; but this is the exception, and not the rule. In other cases, as with several species of Wood Wasps {Crabro familv), that bore nests for themselves in timber, and provision them with plant-lice-; nearly a hundred individuals are stored up for a single larva. The more usual number is from half a dozen to a dozen. In no known case does any Digger Wasp attempt to rear more than a single larva in a single nest. As already hinted, each species of Digger Wasp usually selects a particular species, or, at all events a particular group, either of insects, or of spiders, as food for its young; but there are several ex- ceptions to this rule, owing, do
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
