278 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Some days elapsed before I saw the wasp in the act of en- 

 larging- her nest. I had seen her tear down parts of the cells 

 when she was agitated and could hear the cutting of the 

 paper with her sharp mandibles. After kneading the bits of 

 paper for a moment, she had fed them to larvae which ate 

 them with apparent enjoyment. I had also seen her give a 

 touch now and then as though in the act of adding some- 

 thing and had about decided that she did such work at odd 

 moments, with but a touch here and there. However, on 

 the 25th of June after nearly three weeks of watching, I saw 

 her hard at work. It must be remembered that the weather 

 was cool and wet and seldom favorable to activity of this 

 kind. 



She gathered her raw material near at hand and it was 

 easy to follow her from her nest to a weather beaten post a 

 few feet distant, where she secured her wood. After alight- 

 ing on the post she would cut away enough of the exposed 

 wood to make a good mouthful. She would then fly directly 

 to the nest where she would stand for a moment kneading the 

 pulp between her jaws and with her forefeet turning it round 

 and round. She would then spend some time looking over 

 the comb to find the most favorable place to work. When 

 she had satisfied herself as to the place to begin, she would 

 bite the soft pulp against the top of the partly constructed 

 cell. It seemed very soft and waxy and spread easily. She 

 pushed her forefeet against the opposite sides of tne thin wall, 

 backing slowly around the cell and drawing out the new tis- 

 sue very thinly. Sometimes she would pass entirely around 

 the cell and sometimes only part way. At times she would 

 add as much as a sixteenth of an inch to the structure with 

 a single mouthful and but two or three minutes were neces- 

 sary to get fresh load of raw material. After each trip she 

 would rest for a moment and make her toilet. Then she would 

 peek into a few cells and be off again for another load. 



Between times, she made a very elaborate toilet, sometimes 

 standing on her hind legs and rubbing the other four together. 

 At other times she would stand on her forelegs and extend 

 the others behind her. Rarely she stood on her right middle 

 leg in about her normal condition and stroked herself with the 

 others as well as rubbing them together. Standing thus on 

 one leg she presented a striking appearance. 



