Dr. Buist on the Nest of a Mason- Wasp. 311 



to finish, are commonly built together and left to dry before any- 

 thing more is done ; the outer shell having in the process of con- 

 struction been partially filled with mud, and divided into compart- 

 ments, a considerable space being left open within the principal 

 aperture which gives entrance to them all. So soon as they are 

 firm enough, and whilst still damp, the female is seen running and 

 flitting about them, and dropping a few eggs in each ; and imme- 

 diately after this the male is seen to approach the nest warily with 

 what appears to be a cumbrous load in his arms. This turns out to 

 be a large green caterpillar, about three-quarters of an inch in 

 length, fully the size of the bee which carries it : this is now thrust 

 through the bottle-neck aperture into the nest. The struggles of 

 the resisting worm being met with many a punch, nip, and dig from 

 the inexorable bee, it seems at last to sting its victim to death. The 

 moment it is fairly within the bottle, a little globule of mud is 

 brought, and the mouth of it hermetically sealed. More bottles in 

 succession are built, provisioned, and sealed up in this way, till the 

 collection consists of six, eight, or ten ; when fairly completed, the 

 builder seems to take no more heed of them : he is shy and easily 

 frightened, and will abandon his operations and quit the house alto- 

 gether if he observes anybody near. I have never happened to see 

 the grubs or young bees ; but about a fortnight after the work just 

 described has been finished, the nests are all found to be burst 

 through, and the fragments of the shell and casing of the chrysalis 

 are found inside. I have watched these operations frequently at 

 Bombay, and only regretted that the pressure of other avocations 

 prevented me from gathering more i)articulars than I have now 

 given. So far as they go they may be relied on." 



Read also a paper " On some remarkable Spherical Exostoses 

 developed on the Roots of various species of Coniferee." By Joseph 

 Dalton Hooker, Esq., M.D.. F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. 



Dr. Hooker states that the exostoses which form the subject of 

 his paper were first observed by him on the roots of the Podocarpus 

 dacrydioides of New Zealand, collected by the Rev. W. Colenso ; 

 and subsequently at Kew, in company with the Rev. M.J. Berkeley, 

 he found similar organs to be of very general occurrence among 

 Coniferce. As examples he mentions Araucarite of several species, 

 Podocarpi, Taxodium, Dacrydium, Thuja, Cuprcssus, Phyllocladus, 

 and Cunning hamia. Mr. Berkeley has described, in the * Gardeners' 

 Chronicle,' exostoses on the roots of the Pea, and Dr. Hooker has 

 also been long familiar with other examples, especially with a most 

 remarkable modification of them on the Laburnum, pointed out to 

 him by Prof. Henslow, who has also shown him others on the Gar- 

 den Bean, and on species of Lathyrus, both wild and cultivated, as 

 well as on other LeguminoscE. Except, however, in the instance of 

 Taxodium distichum, in which they have been noticed by the elder 

 DeCandoUe (' Theorie Elementaire,' Ed. 2. p. 356), and in which 

 they exist in a very peculiar condition, he is not aware of their pre- 



