80 



GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



visions them with spiders. Each cell is filled with paralyzed 

 spiders ; on top, one egg is laid and the cell is sealed. When 

 the larva hatches, it finds the requisite amount of food to 



Fig. 54. Mud dauber and nest. (Natural size) 



carry it to the pupal stage. These wasps are distinguished 

 by the long pedicel, or stalk, joining the thorax to the 

 abdomen. 



The digger wasps of the West, which belong to the genus 

 Sphex (Fig. 55), make holes a little over a centimeter (about 

 half an inch) in diameter and two or three centimeters deep, 



