http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/501717007

On the instincts and habits of the solitary wasps

"This book examines the activities of wasps. For the purposes of this work wasps may be divided into two classes, the social and the solitary. Of these, those of the latter class are much the more numerous, there being over one thousand species in the United States alone, while there are only about fifty species of the social genera. That the social kinds are better known is due to the fact that the great size to which their communities often attain makes it comparatively easy to study them. The solitary wasp (with rare exceptions) comes into the world absolutely alone. It has no knowledge of its progenitors, which have perished long before, and no relations with others of its kind. It must then depend entirely upon its inherited instincts to determine the form of its activities, and although these instincts are much more flexible than has been generally supposed, and are often modified by individual judgment and experience, they are still so complex and remarkable as to offer a wide field for study and speculation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

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