We once found a nest of this species in process of construction. A large heap of fresh earth had been pushed out, which entirely covered the spot; but at intervals there were upheavals from below which betrayed the presence of the wasp. When we saw it first it was half past eight o’clock, and we judged, from what had been accomplished, that she must have been at work at least an hour. It was half past nine before the excavation was complete. We had not been certain, up to this time, as to what we were watching; but now we had the pleasure of seeing her open her doorway from below and stand in the entrance while she washed her face with her fore feet, like a cat. When they rest at the mouth of the hole the first legs, which are yellow, are bowed in a semicircle on each side of the yellow face, the distal joints being bent up so that the wasps seem to be standing on their elbows. This attitude, which is often seen in Bembex spinolæ, gives them a delightfully amusing, bow–legged appearance. They usually open their nests in the morning at about nine o’clock,—a little earlier or later according to the time at which the sun strikes the spot. Then they spend from forty minutes to an hour in taking a survey, the least movement on the part of a watcher causing them to drop out of sight as if the earth had given way beneath them. Sometimes there is a little way–station an inch or two within the tunnel, and the wasp falls back only to this point, and here she may be seen, if one peeps in cautiously, either quietly awaiting the retreat of the intruder, or, perhaps, performing her toilet in a leisurely and elegant manner. Whenever she leaves her nest she makes three or four rapid circles around the spot to freshen her memory of the locality. The most thorough study that we saw made by clypeata was in the case of the wasp mentioned before, that was so long in carrying her beetle in because of our being on the ground. When she finally did go in she stayed only an instant—just long enough to deposit her load—and then came out and spent a long time in an investigation of all the surrounding objects, flying in and out among the plants, now high, now low, and circling again and again around the spot. It looked as though she had been puzzled and disturbed by the presence of unaccustomed things. As soon as the survey was over she went inside and closed the door, as though its object had been not so much to strengthen her memory as to correct former impressions.