Nothing
more perfect could have been desired.

The wasp attacked at once but was rudely repulsed, the caterpillar
rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and with the most violent
contortions of the whole body. Again and again its adversary descended
but failed to gain a hold. The caterpillar in its struggles, flung
itself here and there over the ground, and had there been any grass or
other covering near by it might have reached a place of partial
safety, but there was no shelter within reach, and at the fifth attack
the wasp succeeded in alighting over it, near the 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 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 wasp
remained motionless, and then, withdrawing her sting, she plunged it
successively between the third and the second, and between the second
and the first segments.

[Illustration: WASP PLUNGING HER STING INTO THE CATERPILLAR.]

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.

_Urnaria_, probably feeling--as we certainly did--reaction from the
strain of the last few minutes, and a relief at the completion of her
task, now rested from her labors. Standing on the ground close by she
proceeded to smooth her body with her long hind legs, standing in the
meantime, almost on her head, with her abdomen directed upward. She
then gave her face a thorough washing and rubbing with her first
legs, and not until she had made a complete and satisfactory toilet
did she return to the caterpillar.

We saw _Ammophila_ capture her prey only three times during the whole
summer, but from these observations and from the condition of her
caterpillars taken at various times from nests, her method seems to be
wonderfully close to that of _hirsuta_, with just about the same
amount of variation in different individuals.

Thus in our second example,