The Mason-Wasps 



Very simply: for the outside materials the 

 potter uses only the water with which she 

 slakes her thirst from time to time; for the 

 inside materials she uses pure saliva, a 

 precious agent which has to be thriftily em- 

 ployed, so that she may equip her family 

 with a sufficiency of earthenware. To con- 

 struct her pots, the Agenia must possess two 

 separate fluid-reservoirs: the crop, a bottle 

 which is filled with spring-water; and the 

 gland, a phial in which the watertight chem- 

 ical product is sparingly elaborated. 



The Pelopseus knows nothing of these 

 scientific methods. To the mud collected 

 ready-made she adds nothing that develops 

 resisting-powers later; when attacked by 

 water, her cells quickly become soaked and 

 allow the moisture to ooze through to the 

 inside. Hence probably, in her case, the 

 necessity for a thick casing of plaster to 

 protect the too permeable dwelling. Each 

 potter has her portion: the giantess, the 

 rough covering of loam; the dwarf, the thin 

 coating of varnish. 



Despite their inner glaze, the Agenia's 

 cells are too readily affected by water and 

 moreover too fragile to remain exposed to 

 the open air with impunity. They need a 

 shelter quite as badly as those of the 

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