The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-06-24

iOrIuS uer HtSt III SdIfuDuukS tuat urS
| sometimes acres In extent. Before
leaving her burrow the insect covers It
over with sand, masking II so complete.
ly that It Is entirely indistinguishable
from the surrounding nest. On revisit
Ing the nest, however, which she has to
do In storing II with food, she flies
without hesitation directly to It.
The little wasp tCerceris tuberculata)
possesses this sense in high degree,
perhaps also another, for in choosing
the beetles with which to store the bur-
rows she digs In the sol for her future
larvae, she never gets outside partic-
ular family of these insects, but, re-
markable as 1t may appear, will take
specimens altogether different in ap-
pearance, shape, size and color, pro-
vided they belong to the right family.
The range Of selection, so wide In re-
spect to varieties, so limited as to kind,
seems to point TO some sense of which
we know nothing, but which supplies
Cerceris with the power of discrimipa-
ton required.
Fabre captured n dozen female Ger
ceris, dropped spot of white paint on
the thoYax Of every one, put each into
paper roll, put the rolls containing
the prisoners into a box from which
they were liberated one and quarter
miles from home. Five hours after
ward, when he visited their home. four
had returned, and he had little, If any,
doubt that the others also found their
way there. He afterward took nine of
the insects to the town of Carpentras,
distance of two miles, and released
them in the public street, in the centre
Of populous quarter. Each wasp, on
being released, rose vertically high
enough between the houses to clear the
roofs, and few OF in a southerly direc-
ton, in beeline for her nest. On WIS.,
iting the homes Of the little wasps next
day he found that at least FIVE out Of
the nine had 'put in an appearance
But perhaps the strangest instance OF
the possession of some sense unknown
to us occurs in the case of the parasitic
wasp Leucopsis Ueucopsis gigas). Leu
copsis lays her eggs In the cells built
by the mason bee Chalicodma. The cell
Of this bee is placed in a mass of solid
masonry, part only Of which Is occu-
pied by cells. Every cell is built with
hard mortar, making an uneven SUR
face, and access is rendered even more
difficult by a layer of sun-balked clay
spread over the whole. Leucopsls has
perhaps to work uninterruptedly for
three hours with the tools nature has
furnished to penetrate the defense pro-
vided by the mason bee for the egg and
food stored in the cell. But the cover
ing is uniform over the whole struct-
ure. How Is Leucopsis to know that
after all her work may not be in vain !;
that she may not penetrate masonry
that covers no cell? This problem is
easily solved by the wasp, who walks
slowly and, so to speak, thoughtfully
over the clay, tests 1t with her anten-
nae, and unfailingly selects the right
spot to begin her work, which Of course
is to obtain access to the larvae Of the
mason bee, upon which her young will
feed when the egg she lays there IS
Matched.
1t is, TO make the matter plain, rs II
person were able to determine by
feeling of the walls, three or four feet
thick. OF prison 5ust where cells ten.
anted by the prisoners were situated.
Examples of insects that possess an
X-ray sense, not only among European
but our own hymenoptera, can be mul-
tiplied indefinitely. Only one or two of
the senses pecuiiarto the lower animals
are here noticed Lubbock suggests
that "there may be fifty Of them"
I do not know any more interesting
field for geological research and expert
ment than this-a field open to any one
who has the requisite patience and love
Of nature to xploreit.-Scientific --mer-
lean