ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, WITH EXAMPLES 



209 



would be of interest to know the whole story of the relations 

 of these two insects. 



The Habits of the White- 

 Footed Mud-Dauber and 

 ITS Allies 



^ 



"^ 



y 



HILE the jug- 

 making wasp, 

 which I have 

 * described in the 



preceding part, may 

 • k^ be the most artistic 



y^' in the jug design of her 



nest, yet the white-footed 

 wasp may justly claim an 

 architectural skill of an 

 equally high order. Between 

 the nineteenth and twenty-third 

 of July, I studied a white-footed 

 mud-dauber while she was building her nest. When she first 

 started her work on the vertical surface of a rafter under the 

 roof of our porch, she brought pellets of clay and made a 

 rather rough layer of them. These pellets were uncertainly 

 cemented to the wood in the commencing process, though, 

 little b}^ little, there was an increasing evidence of her dexter- 

 ity and that she had seemingly from the start a definite design 

 in view. From this foundation, she built up the sides and 

 roof of the tube and gradually extended it. When it was 

 finished it was almost straight, two and three-quarters inches 

 in length, and made up of three separate compartments, or 

 cells, with a partition separating each of them. (See plate 

 illustration.) 



The wasp only worked on the nest during hot, sunny days. 

 Then she was kept busy bringing soft little pellets of clay which 

 she carried between her feet. These were deposited later on 



