Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1918 — WASP MUST HAVE REASONED [ARTICLE]

WASP MUST HAVE REASONED

Case on Record Where Insect Used ‘—Stone as Hammer to Pound Dirt More Firmly. So far as known, only one small insect —a wasp of the sphex family—among the millions of creatures belonging to a lower crdc-r than man, has ever employed the aid of a tool t' accomplish a desired result. The mother wasp of this family digs a tunnel in .the ground, deposits her egg in it and provides a caterpillar stung to death or to a condition of paralysis for her baby to feed on when hatched. The grub subsists upon the caterpillar until it passes through the pupa stage Into the perfect winged insect. Then It digs its way out of the tunnel and begins Its life above ground as a wasp. But after the mother wasp has made its tunnel, anil deposited the egg, it finishes Its task by ramming down pellets of earth, little stones, etc., into the mouth of the tunnel. This is the race habit of these wasps. It is recorded on undoubted authority that one in-

ventive mother, "cheirthe mouth of the tunnel was covered to ffi level with the rest of the ground about it, brought a quantity of fine grains of dirt to the spot, and picking up a small pebble in her mandibles, used it as a hammer in pounding them down with rapid strokes, thus making the spot as firm and as hard, as the surrounding surface. Then she departed, brought more dirt, picked up the pebble again aud used it as a hammer, as before.