The Mason-Wasps 



that and, above all, a slender figure and a 

 nimble carriage; and the Volucella is thick- 

 set and corpulent and sedate in her move- 

 ments. Never will the Wasp take that un- 

 wieldly insect for one of her own kind. The 

 difference is too great. 



Poor Volucella, mimesis has not taught 

 you enough ! You ought — this is the essen- 

 tial point — to have adopted a Wasp's shape 

 and you forgot to do so; you remained a fat 

 Fly, far too easily recognized. Neverthe- 

 less, you penetrate into the terrible cavern; 

 you are able to stay there for a long time, 

 without danger, as the eggs profusely strewn 

 on the wrapper of the Wasps'-nest show. 

 How do you set about it? 



Let us, first of all, remember that the 

 Volucella does not enter the enclosure in 

 which the combs are stacked: she keeps to 

 the outer surface of the paper rampart and 

 there lays her eggs. Let us, on the other 

 hand, recall the Polistes placed in the com- 

 pany of the Wasps in my breeding-cage. 

 Here of a surety is one who need not have 

 recourse to mimicry to find acceptance. She 

 belongs to the guild, she is a Wasp herself. 

 Any of us that had not the trained eye of the 

 entomologist would confuse the two species. 

 Well, this stranger, so long as she does not 



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