1\)2 LIFE STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN INSECTS. 



Qgg is deposited beside them and is not fixed to 

 the wall of the nest by a suspensory thread (made 

 use of by wasps of genera Odynerus and Etimenes), 

 although this thread still exists attached to one 

 end of the egg. The Qgg is not fixed to the prey 

 as in the case of the fossore wasps. It is de- 

 posited in the bottom of the cell and the female 

 watches for the hatching in order to begin the pro- 

 visioning. This is therefore a habit of social wasps. 

 The wasp does not wall up its cell after laying the 

 egg. It remains there itself and guards the egg — 

 its head directed downwards, thus preventing the 

 access of parasites. On the other hand it begins 

 provisioning at such a time as will enable the young- 

 larva, after hatching, to be certain to find its food. 

 The provisioning which then takes place regularly 

 and in proportion suitable to the size of the larva, 

 permits the Synagris to watch the growth of its 

 young." 



Roubaud also describes another species of Syna- 

 gris which shows still further advance in social 

 habits, getting close to the Social wasps, insomuch 

 as the mother hunts for caterpillars, but instead 

 of giving them to the larva to feed on, she chews 

 them up into a paste and places it on the lower 

 surface of the thorax of the larva (Plate 23, Fig 

 10), in such a position as to enable it to bend its 

 head and take in the food, "a little mass of a 

 green colour, and of semi-fluid constituency, which 

 the larva ate greedily." The mother-wasp hunts 

 nearly all day at short intervals, for the baby grub 

 is very hungry. At night she stands at the door of 



