Note 1 — Chapter xiii · THE AMMOPHILÆ

In the case of all four, the provisions of the larvæ consist of caterpillars of Moths. The Silky Ammophila selects, though not exclusively, those long, thin caterpillars which walk by looping and unlooping their bodies. Their gait suggests a pair of compasses that makes its way by opening and closing in turns. Hence they are known by two expressive names: Loopers and Measuring-worms.1 The same burrow contains provisions varying greatly in colour, a proof that the Ammophila hunts without distinction every species of Loopers, provided that they be small, for the huntress herself is anything but large and her grub cannot get through very much, in spite of the five pieces of game set before her. If Loopers fail, the Wasp falls back on other equally slender caterpillars. Curved into a hoop as the result of the sting that paralysed them, the five pieces are stacked up in the cell: the uppermost carries the egg for which the provisions are made.