Show INSECT USED HER BRAINS wasp made receptacle for egg and brov ded brov s ons the deliberate use of a tool by a little sand gasn wasn might well be sup posed to indicate reasoning power A ft ell known naturalist dr peckham watched a wasp dig a hole in the earth and deposit therein an egg to gether with a spider which she had stung into paralysis to feed the grub which should be hatched in due course then she filled up the hole with sand or earth and jammed it down with her head when at last the filling was level with the ground she brought a quan city of fine grains of dirt to the spot picked up a small pebble in her man bibles and used it as a hammer in strokes thus making this spot as hard and firm as the surrounding surface before we could recover from our as at this performance she had dropped her stone and was bringing more earth in a moment we saw her pick up the pebble and again pound the earth into place with it once more the whole process was 1 s r fc 13 I 1 repeated and then the little creature flew away the whole of this performance writes sir herbert maxwell in memol ries of the months Is so unexpected that even dr peckham s high reau as a scrupulous observer might fail to convince skeptics that he had not been deceived but similar behavior on the part of a wasp of the same species has been recorded independently by dr Wll liston of kansas university youth s companion |