A MASON- WASP 



This bed of mire is very unpleasant for the passers-by, 

 but the Pelopaeus loves to gather her pellets here, amid 

 the hoofs of the mules. 



Unlike some builders in clay, such as the Mason-bees, 

 the Wasp does not improve the mud to make it into 

 mortar, but uses it just as it is. Consequently her nests 

 are flimsy work, absolutely unfitted to stand the changes 

 and chances of the open air. A drop of water laid upon 

 their surface softens the spot touched and reduces it to 

 mud again, while a sprinkling equal to an average shower 

 turns it to pap. They are nothing but dried slime, and 

 become slime again as soon as they are wetted. 



It is plain, then, that even if the young Pelopaeus were 

 not so chilly by nature, a shelter is indispensable for the 

 nests, which would go to pieces at the first shower of 

 rain. That is why this Wasp is so fond of human dwell- 

 ings, and especially of the chimney. 



Before receiving its final coating, which covers up the 

 details of the building, the nest has a certain beauty of 

 its own. It consists of a cluster of cells, sometimes 

 arranged side by side in a row — which makes it look 

 rather like a mouth-organ — but more often grouped in 

 layers placed one above the other. I have sometimes 

 counted as many as fifteen cells ; some nests contain only 

 ten ; others are reduced to three or four, or even only one. 

 In shape the cells are not far from cylinders, slightly 



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