1911] (lira nit, Observation* on Polistes. 53 



May 26: — The female left the nest for the first trip abroad at 

 9:15 a. m. and by 11:30 a. m. had "half" constructed the twelfth cell; 

 at noon, an egg was deposited into it, in that crease of its sides nearest 

 to the nest center. The twelfth cell was merely formed by arching 

 ag-ainst the eleventh one, and like it with the built side U-shaped. 

 Day clear and warm to fair; thunder shower 1:30 to 2:30 p. m., then 

 cloudy. 



May 27: — The twelfth cell was "completed" today, the queen be- 

 ing- active during - all of the warmer portions of the day. Clear and 

 warm. 



May 28: — The queen was active throughout today, patching the 

 nest in various places. No eggs have as yet hatched. Clear and warm. 



May 29: — Again active; by 4 p. m. had completed a thirteenth 

 cell, adjoining and against the twelfth, but the eg-g- was not deposited 

 into it today. Clear and warm. 



May SO: — The nest was left for the first time today at 10:30 a. 

 m., but the female was present the entire afternoon, during which 

 time she occasionally visited each of the cells for examination. Cloudy 

 early a. m. ; severe thunder showers up to 6 a. m., windy ; fair to 

 cloudy after 11 a. m. Moderate 



May 31: — Between 7 and S a. m. the queen spent the entire hour 

 in making a careful examination of each cell, putting her antennae, 

 head and fore legs entirely within the cell for this purpose, sensing- 

 with the former. With her head within a cell she nevertheless re- 

 mained alert and was visibly disturbed if anyone passed under the 

 nest, darting then quickly backwards out of the cell and facing about, 

 suddenly assuming a defensive attitude, the antenna? waving, and 

 usually one of the fore legs upraised, its tarsus in rapid, intermittent, 

 nervous, up-and-down motion. Such actions, not previously noticed, 

 were given significance when it was discovered that the eg-gs in three 

 of the oldest, hence central, cells had hatched, all very recently. 

 These eggs have been under observation for nearly two weeks, since 

 May 17; as there were on that date ten cells, taking at least eight 

 days to construct, the duration of the period of embryonic development 

 in these three cases must have averaged about twenty-two days, or 

 even longer. A fourth egg in a cell adjoining the other three hatched 

 about noon today. The remaining eggs have not changed. No food 

 droplets are now to be observed in any of the cells and the thirteenth 

 cell has not as yet received an egg. 



