The Mason-Wasps 



horizontally or slanting a little upwards, 

 the receptacle holds its contents; but with 

 the mouth turned downwards it would lose 

 them. I have lingered a moment over this 

 petty detail to call attention to a curious mis- 

 take current in the text-books. Wherever 

 I find a drawing of a Pelopaeus-nest, I see 

 it with the orifices of the cells facing down- 

 wards. The illustrations go on and on: to- 

 day's reproduces yesterday's absurdity. I 

 do not know who was the first to perpetrate 

 this blunder and to think of subjecting the 

 Pelopaeus to a task no less arduous than that 

 of the vessel of the Danaides: to fill a pot 

 turned upside down. 



Built one by one, stuffed full of Spiders 

 and closed as and when the laying demands 

 it, the cells retain their elegant exterior un- 

 til the cluster is deemed large enough. 

 Then, to strengthen her work, the Pe- 

 lopaeus covers the whole with a defensive 

 casing; she lays on the plaster with an un- 

 sparing trowel, without artistry or any of 

 those delicate and patient finishing-touches 

 which she lavishes upon the work of the 

 cells. The pellet is applied just as it is 

 brought and merely spread with a few care- 

 less strokes of the mandibles. Thus the 

 original beauties of the structure — the 



