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1
136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
40
As
the
tunnel
was
deepened
a
new
method
of
excavation
was
employed.
It
has
now
reached
a
depth
of
an
inch,
only
the
extremity
of
the
insect's
body
appearing,
and
the
two
hindermost
legs
clinging
to
surrounding
earth
for
purchase.
The
deep
digging
is
now
accompanied
by
a
continual
buzzing
noise,
resembling
that
produced
by
a
bluebottle
fly
held
captive
between
one's
fingers.
At
intervals
of
about
ten
or
fifteen
seconds
the
wasp
would
quickly
back
out
of
the
burrow,
bringing
a
load
of
sand,
which
it
held
between
the
back
of
the
jaws
and
its
thorax,
sustained
at
the
sides
by
the
two
upraised
fore
legs.
After
a
moment's
pause
with
this
burden,
the
insect
would
make
a
sudden
short
darting
flight
of
a
foot
or
more
in
a
quick
circuit,
hurling
the
sand
a
yard
or
more
distant
from
the
burrow.
At
the
end
of
about
fifteen
minutes
the
burrow
was
sunk
to
the
depth
of
an
inch
and
a
half,
the
wasp
entirely
disappearing,
and
indicated
only
by
the
continuous
buzzing.
At
this
time,
the
luncheon
hour
having
arrived,
I
was
obliged
to
pause
in
my
investigations,
and
in
order
to
be
able
to
locate
the
burrow
in
the
event
of
its
obliteration
by
the
wasp
before
my
return,
I
scratched
a
circle
in
the
hard
dirt,
the
hole
being
at
its
exact
centre.
Upon
my
return,
an
hour
later,
I
was
met
with
a
surprise.
The
ways
of
the
digger-wasps
of
various
species
were
familiar,
but
I
now
noted
a
feature
of
wasp-engineering
which
indeed
seems
to
await
its
chronicler,
as
I
find
no
mention
of
it
by
the
wasp-historians.
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