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IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



caterpillars or cut worms. The unfortunate worm when found 

 would be placed on a board and cut into bits with a sharp 

 knife. The bits were fed to the larvae with a grass stem. It 

 was found easily possible to feed the larvae, but the younger 

 ones did not thrive. 



On the 18th of July the first wasp emerged. It was a female 

 and a perfect image of her missing mother. I now felt my 

 hopes rise high, for would not the newly matured polistes 

 mother her unfortunate sisters. The nest was placed on the 

 porch of the study in order to give her an opportunity to 

 fly to the fields in search of food, as soon as she was old 



Fig 44. A. Larva spinning its cucoon. B. The completed nest. 



enough to assume such a responsibility. The same day a sec- 

 ond female emerged, and I felt that soon I would be relieved 

 cf my arduous task. It is not easy for a mere man to 

 mother his own offspring at a tender age, and when it comes 

 to feeding newly hatched wasps, he is hardly prepared to 

 do justice to the needs of the infants. 



Within a few hours after the emergence of the young wasps, 

 a caterpillar was cut up for the young larvae as usual. Iii- 

 stead of feeding it to them directly, it was given to one of 

 the elder sisters to whom I was looking for expert assistance. 

 To my great joy she took it and holding it between her 

 forelegs, kneaded it exactly as I had seen her mother do 



