Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-09-10

\ SrRATEIc WAsr.- Not long since. while
reading beneath the shade Of fg tree, our
attention was attracted by a peculiar loud
and shrill buzzing sound, as ofsome one Of
the bee family in distress. Looking in the
direction of the noise we observed quite close
to us dirtlauber, or builder, one of the
species of wasps 50 well known for the cylin-
drical cases of mud it builds under caves and
on sheltered walls, which it stuffs full of
certain worms and spiders for its young.
This wasp had half of its body and head
down the hole of the equally well-known
doodlehug, worm which children pull out
OF their holes by teasing them with straw
lntil they grasp it with their strong nip
pers and hold on until they are thrown oat.
1t was evident at glance that the wasp had
gone down the hole Of the dOodebug, and
that the doodlebug soon had him in his
strong grip at great disadvantage and where
the wings of the wasp were Of no advantage
to him except TO make noise which might
alarm his adversary. The contest lasted
full two minutes, when finally the dirt
dauber came out with Jerk. lie flew but
a few inches from the hole, lit upon the
ground, rubbed his head, and fairly danced
with pain.
In a few moments lie recovered from the
effects Of his wounds and began making short
circles over the hole, evidently reconnoiter
ing and laying his plans. Presently, light
ing at the mouth Of the hole, he tried the
earth all about the entrance with the skill
Of an engineer, and selecting that which was
driest he began to scratch like dog with
his fore feet, throwing the dust rapidly
backward into the hole We watched with
intense interest, and could not but admire
his pluck anu determination, for We imagine
this throwing Of dust on his adyersary's
head was only to provoke him to fresh
fight. Every now and then he would stop
and take cautious peep down the hole 10
observe the effect of his operations We ex-
pected every moment to see him descend
and make another attack, but il soon become
manifestS that such was not his intention.
and it gradually dawnel upon Us that he had
. strategic mode Of attack based upon the
soundest principlesof philosophy, reason and
a thorough Knowclse Of his adversary and Of
the means ne vas using to render his re
sstauce futile and make him aneaSv captive.
BN llI1A M lllt AA-t mo lut uI4t tHt
Gooilebug would soon be sm1thcret, As it
was necessary that he should have free air.
unless he climbed upward, a. he would do.
Whenever the worm worked upward to get
his head ab,,c the fine dust fell behind and
below him, and thus slowly closed up hi-
hole, until. blinded with dust, he poked his
head out at the top. This was the point
aimed at, and the moment he showed his
head above the wasp pounced upon him,
seized him by the neck. drew him up. gather
ed him in his arms and flew Oft in triumph,
though the worm was much the larger of
the two. Struck with amazement at the
sagacity, science skill and engineering abii
ty of the dirt-dauber, we carefully sounded
the hole, and found that in course of five
minutes this reasoning insect had filled in
five inches of dust and put his formidable
adversary completely at his mercy.
The most skillful engineers, Toliehen or
Beauregard. could not have thrown az earth
works with prolounder calculation than
this natural engineer Or'soH> paper.