Bulletin - Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1–3. numberThe Survey, 1898 |
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abdomen acres albite alighted Ammophila amphibole antennæ August basswood Bembex biotite birch body carried caterpillar cedar cell cent Cerceris cleavage close cocoon crystal dead dragged earth Fabre feet B. M. feldspar fire flew flies fractures gneiss granite ground groundmass habits half hardwoods hardwoods and hemlock hatched hemlock hole hunting inches instinct jack pine July killed lamellæ land larva larvæ legs loam logs malaxation mandibles metarhyolite microcline microperthite million feet minutes mixed forest morning nearly nest o'clock occurs once outcrop paralyzed Pelopaeus perlitic perthitic phenocrysts pinery plagioclase plane Pompilus prey probably quartz quinquenotatus red Norway rhyolite river rock rubrocinctum sandy secondary seemed seen shows soil species spheroids Sphex spider spot sting stored strix stung swamps tamarack texture thorax timber tion trees twinning urnaria Utley victim wasp white pine Wisconsin woods
Popular passages
Page 22 - Just here must be told the story of one little wasp whose individuality stands out in our minds more distinctly than that of any of the 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 the 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...
Page 22 - 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 it as a hammer in pounding...
Page 32 - Souvenirs,' and p. 241) on the lower and softest side of the body — and that to sting a certain segment was found by far the most successful method ; and was inherited like the tendency of a bulldog to pin the nose of a bull, or of a ferret to bite the cerebellum. It would not be a very great step in advance to prick the ganglion of its prey only slightly, and thus to give its larvae fresh meat instead of old dried meat.
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 37 - Only M of the original item is supposed to be cut on Wisconsin soil. ' Only H of the original item in Menominee is supposed to come from Wisconsin, but the part "below Menominee" is all credited as cut in Wisconsin. The following table, the data for which have been taken from the annual statements of the lumber cut, as given by the Northwestern Lumberman represents chiefly the output of pine. Since in the original statements Wisconsin was not clearly separated from Minnesota on the one hand and Michigan...
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 11 - ... anterior end, and in grasping its body firmly in her mandibles. Standing high on her long legs and disregarding the continued struggles of her victim, she lifted it from the ground, curved the end of her abdomen under its body, and darted her sting between the third and fourth segments. From this instant there was a complete cessation of movement on the part of the unfortunate caterpillar. Limp and helpless, it could offer no further opposition to the will of its conqueror. For some moments the...
Page 100 - I could not determine whether it struck with its fore-feet or its jaws, but I think it was with the feet. I often saw a wasp trying to clear a leaf from ants that were already in full possession of a cluster of leafhoppers. It would sometimes have to strike three or four times at an ant before it made it quit its hold and fall. At other times one ant after the other would be struck off with great celerity and ease, and I fancied that some wasps were much cleverer than others. In those cases where...
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 their 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 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...