514 INSECTS ABROAD. 



West Provinces, and, next to the black and yellow Pclopceus 

 [madraspatanus) is the one which attracts most notice. 



" The season in which it builds its cells is from March to 

 November ; but July and August (i.e. during the rainy season) 

 are its favourite months. These cells are placed in every con- 

 ceivable situation ; and it is curious, when sitting quietly writing, 

 to watch the insect coming and going with his material. He or 

 she is so deeply interested in the work that all fear is forgotten, 

 and they will work within a foot of your writing-desk. The 

 mud is carried, so to speak, under the head, and in part sup- 

 ported by the fore-legs, and it is not so finely worked up as that 

 of the Pclopceus; hence we find the work much rougher ex- 

 teriorly, although the inside of the cell is carefully smoothed. 

 I have had a newspaper lying on the table and heard them 

 working inside the folds ; in short, there is no position too 

 strange for the nest. 



"The following are a few of the positions in which I have 

 found them : — 



" 1. Between folds of paper ; 2. in the back of a book which 

 had been left lying open ; 3. on the handle of a tea-cup ; 4. in 

 the key-hole of a door ; 5. in the barrel of a gun ; 6. under a 

 fan on the table ; 7. in the hollow of a bolt of a window, where 

 three times the whole structure was crushed by the use of the 

 said bolt in the absence of the insect ; 8. on a signet-ring from 

 which the stone had fallen out ; 9. on the frill of a large fan or 

 punka, which was kept in motion ten or twelve hours out of tlie 

 twenty-four. 



" I will now proceed with the method of working. Both sexes 

 appear to labour ; for I have sometimes caught a worker, and 

 found that the work was immediately continued, which was not 

 the case with the Pelopceits. They come and go incessantly, 

 with a loud buzzing; and whilst they are tempering the clay 

 they keep up the motion, thereby advertising the locality where 

 they are working, although often the exact spot is even then difH- 

 cult to find. The tenacity with which the clay adheres to sub- 

 stances is very curious (although the cells of the insects of the 

 genus BhyncTiium afford a better instance) ; and I believe that 

 when the clay, having been first prepared at the water, is 

 brought into use, it is inspissated by some glutinous substance 

 ejected by the insect. It is certainly very carefidly kneaded 



