The ants that these wasps were bringing all had wings. The European genus Fertonius takes worker ants which can be picked up anywhere; but so far as we know, these queens leave the nest only at the time of their nuptial flight, after which the wings are lost. How then are they captured? Can it be that the wasps, though not much larger than their prey, descend into the home of the ants, bearding the lions in their den, and carrying off their young queens by force of arms? This smacks of heroism. Much interested in the matter, we carefully examined the ant–hills of the neighborhood. Those on top of the hill had openings too small to admit frigidus, supposing she had wanted to enter, but down on the roadside below we found some larger doorways and sat down beside them. We had scarcely arrived when a frigidus appeared on the scene, alighting six feet away. That she should have come hunting so soon seemed almost too good to be true, but she certainly was not doing anything else. She did not dig, nor feed on the clover, nor circle about as though looking for her nest, but began to clean and brush herself assiduously. Then she climbed a tall grass blade, and swinging at the top went through some curious gymnastic performances. Then she brushed herself again, drawing her third legs over the sides of her abdomen. This went on from moment to moment, until half an hour had passed, and more than once the painful suspicion crossed our minds that this was some trifling male putting in the hours between breakfast and luncheon. One encouraging fact cheered us: aimless as the wasp appeared she was slowly drawing nearer and nearer to the nest; and at last, alighting on the top of a weed close by, she crouched there in a most peculiar attitude, and gazed intently at the opening. Absorbed and tense, she looked about to leap upon her prey; but after a time she relaxed and moved about a little. Presently she came close to the entrance and seemed on the point of going in; but the ants were swarming up and down, and we thought that perhaps that step required more courage than she possessed. At any rate, she did not enter, but hung about for some minutes and then flew away.