354 



CARL HARTMAN 



ing in mud is widely distributed among insects : wasps, bees, 

 ants and termites. In fact, certain mining bees (e.g., Emphor 

 bombiformis, Cress.), have two habits which, so far as the writer 

 is aware, are not both present in any one wasp, namely, the 

 habit of digging the nest in the ground and that of using mud 

 for partitioning and plugging up the nest. 



The following account describes observations made on Aug. 

 nth, 12th and 13th at Huntsville, Walker County, Texas. 

 The account concerns two wasps which worked upon their 

 nests about the same time. These individuals will be referred 

 to as No. I and No. II. Wasp No. I was first discovered among 

 a dozen or more Pelopaei which were gathering pellets of mud 

 at a small puddle of water formed from the drippings of an 



ice box. Eumenes had been drinking water; from the water 

 it flew to a lump of clay from which it gnawed a pellet of moist- 

 ened dirt and then proceeded with the pellet to the nest a few 

 feet away. Fig. 1 repx'esents the location of the two nests which 

 the writer observed the wasps build and store. The shaded 

 portion is the veranda under the floor of which the observer 

 crouched to escape the scorching rays of an August sun. Nest 

 No. I was attached to a culm of Bermuda grass (Cynodon dac- 

 tylon) under the steps (I, fig. 1) ; nest No. II was similarly placed 

 under the veranda at II. The letter a represents the puddle 

 of water from the drain -pipe b. The building of the second 

 nest will be described, as every step in the work of the second 

 wasp was observed, from the first reconnoitre for a suitable 

 nidus to the closing of the nest. Occasional reference will be 

 made to the work of wasp No. I. 



