82 



GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



of love, and so pretty in her pride over her completed work. In 

 filling up her nest she put her head down into it and bit away the 

 loose earth from the sides, letting it fall to the bottom of the bur- 

 row, and then, after a quantity had ac- 

 cumulated, jammed it down with her 

 head. Earth was then brought from the 

 outside and pressed in, and then more 

 was bitten from the sides. When, at last, 

 the filling was level with the ground, she 

 brought a quantity of fine grains of dirt 

 to the spot, and, picking up a small 

 pebble in her mandibles, used it as a 

 hammer in pounding them down with 

 rapid strokes, thus making this spot as 

 hard and firm as the surrounding sur- 

 face. Before we could recover from our 

 astonishment at this performance she 

 dropped her stone and was bringing 

 more earth. We then threw ourselves 

 down on the ground, that not a motion 

 might be lost, and in a moment we saw 

 her pick up the pebble and again pound 

 the earth into place with it, hammering 

 now here and now there, until all was 

 level. Once more the whole process was 

 repeated, and then the little creature, 

 all unconscious of the commotion that she had aroused in our 

 minds, unconscious, indeed, of our very existence, and intent 

 only on doing her work and doing it well, gave one final com- 

 prehensive glance around and flew away. 



A common North American species of solitary wasp is 

 called the potter wasp (Eu'menes frater'na, Fig. 56). It 

 builds a pretty little jug-shaped nest of clay or mud, which 

 it attaches to vegetation and provisions with caterpillars. 

 The young, when full-grown, escapes through a hole which 

 it cuts in the side of the nest, as shown in the lower of the 

 two nests drawn in Fig. 56. 



Fig. 56. Potter wasp and 

 nests. (Natural size) 



