On the Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps, 2. numberState, 1898 - 245 pages |
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Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps Elizabeth Gifford Peckham,George Williams Peckham No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
abdomen afternoon alighted alive Ammophila antennæ aphides Astata August August 18 backward beetles began Bembex body bugs burrow capture carried caterpillar caught cell cephalothorax Cerceris ornata circling close clypeata cocoon cricket dead dragged dropped entrance excavated Fabre feet female five flew flies four fuscipennis genus going ground habits hatched hole hunting hymenoptera inches insects instinct July 23 killed laid larva larvæ little wasp lived looking lump of earth malaxation males mandibles marginatus mesothorax minutes morning motionless move never o'clock once opening pair of legs paralyzed Pelopaeus Philanthus plant Polistes Pompilidae Pompilus posterior prey probably prothorax provisioned quinquenotatus quivering rubrocinctum scelestus seemed seen seized side solitary wasps sometimes species Sphex spider spot stimulation sting stored strix stung tarsi third Thomisus thorax tion took touched tunnel urnaria victim watching wings
Popular passages
Page 22 - ... completed work. In filling up her nest she put her head down into it and bit away the loose earth from the sides, letting it fall to the bottom of the burrow, and then, after a quantity had accumulated, jammed it down with her head. Earth was then brought from the outside and pressed in, and then more was bitten from the sides. When, at last, the filling was level with the ground, she brought a quantity of fine grains of dirt to the spot, and, picking up a small pebble in her mandibles, used...
Page 231 - instinct,'" they say, "we place all complex acts which are performed previous to experience and in a similar manner by all members of the same sex and race, leaving out as non-essential, at this time, the question of whether they are or are not accompanied by consciousness.
Page 100 - The wasp stroked the young hoppers, and sipped up the honey when it was exuded, just like the ants. When an ant came up to a cluster of leaf-hoppers attended by a wasp, the latter would not attempt to grapple with its rival on the leaf, but would fly off and hover over the ant ; then when its little foe was well exposed, it would dart at it and strike it to the ground. The action was so quick that I could not determine whether it struck with its fore-feet or its jaws, but I think it was with the...
Page 24 - When she had heaped up the dirt to her satisfaction, she again flew away and immediately returned with a smaller pebble, perhaps an eighth of an inch in diameter, and then standing more nearly erect, with the front feet folded beneath her, she pressed down the dust all over and about the opening, smoothing off the surface, and accompanying the action with a peculiar rasping sound. After all this was done, and she spent several minutes each time in thus stamping the earth so that only a keen eye could...
Page 215 - Ammophila refused to make use of her burrow after we had drawn some deep lines in the dust before it. The same annoyance is exhibited when there is any change made near the spot upon which the prey of the wasp, whatever it may be, is deposited temporarily.
Page 4 - Bembex, a number of individuals build close together, forming a colony. The nests may be made of mud, and attached for shelter under leaves, rocks, or eaves of buildings, or may be burrows hollowed out in the ground, in trees or in the stems of plants. The adult wasp lives upon fruit or nectar, but the young grub or larva must have animal food ; and here the parent wasp shows a rigid conservatism, each species providing the sort of food that has been approved by its family for generations, one taking...
Page 159 - ... occurred to us — that it was decidedly too small to hold the spider. Back she went for another survey of her bulky victim, measured it with her eye, without touching it, drew her conclusions, and at once returned to the nest and began to make it larger. We have several times seen wasps enlarge thein holes when a trial had demonstrated that the spider would not go in, but this seemed a remarkably intelligent use of the comparative faculty.
Page 22 - ... others. We remember her as the most fastidious and perfect little worker of the whole season, so nice was she in her adaptation of means to ends, so busy and contented in her labor of love, and so pretty in her pride over her completed work.
Page 11 - The caterpillar was now left lying on the ground. For a moment the wasp circled above it, and then, descending, seized it again, further back this time, and with great deliberation and nicety of action gave it four more stings, beginning between the ninth and tenth segments and progressing backward.
Page 222 - To judge from the results, they scarcely sting twice alike, since the victims of the same wasp may be killed at once or may live from one day to six weeks, or perhaps ultimately recover.