The Mason-Wasps 



tiny fabric, no bigger than a cherry, does 

 not admit of this rustic ornamentation. 

 The potter replaces it by a few specks of 

 clay distributed here and there. 



The Eumenes who build a succession of 

 cells in groups are compelled to deform the 

 chamber under construction according to the 

 space left by those preceding it; for the 

 beautiful curve of their original design they 

 substitute, by force of circumstances, the un- 

 pleasing broken line. The others, those 

 who build each cell in isolation, are far from 

 perpetrating such inaccuracies. From first 

 to last, as many as the establishment of the 

 larvae requires, now on this twig, now on 

 that, the cells are built of an identical shape, 

 just as though they had issued from the 

 same mould. Now that nothing hinders 

 the exact application of the rules, order re- 

 turns and produces a series of structures 

 which are no less perfect at the end than 

 at the beginning. 



If the insect were to build a general shel- 

 ter, in which each larva had its individual 

 box, what would this building, this common 

 home of the family, be? On condition, of 

 course, that no obstacle intervene, the work 

 will always be correct in its geometry, which 

 will vary according to the builder's speci- 

 226 



