426 Marvels of Insect Life, 



from its swinging perch. A remarkable point in this connection, showing how 

 several items are correlated, is the way in which the egg-shell splits up on hatching. 

 From the point of attachment of the suspensory thread it splits into a sort of ribbon, 

 which in effect lengthens the thread and enables the grub to get nearer to its food. 

 The clawed potter, ^ though it fashions a less regular vase, provides three cells in 

 the interior, each of which has its egg and its store of caterpillars. An Indian species '^ 

 makes the mistake of constructing its nest with walls so thin that a parasite readily 

 pierces them to lay its eggs. For this reason only two wasps were reared from 

 a group of five cells, the parasites having destroyed the other three. 



Several wasps of the genus trypoxylon construct nests much after the same 

 pattern as those mentioned. One of these is referred to by Bates in the account 

 of his natural history exploration of the Amazons. He says, " Their habits are 

 similar to those of [the mud-daubers] : namely, they carry off the clay in their 

 mandibles, and have a different song when they hasten away with their burthen 

 from that which they sing whilst at work. One species [the white-footed potter^], 



which is a large, black kind, three-quarters of an inch 

 '\ in length, makes a tremendous fuss whilst building its 



cell. It often chooses the walls or doors of chambers 

 for this purpose, and when two or three are at work in 

 the same place their loud humming keeps the place in 

 an uproar. [The gold-faced potter*], a much smaller 

 species, makes a neat little nest shaped like a carafe, 

 building rows of them together in the corners of the 

 verandahs." 



In Hawaii several species of mud-wasps ^ construct 

 The Gold-faced Potter. single-celled nests similar to those of eumenes, but more 

 '^-^n^'^^:'^':.^:^'^li^ cylindrical than spherical. They are fond of making 

 ^tiforoftrspede'sthlt^^^^^^^^^^^^^ thcsc in a leaf that has been curled up already by 



a'dt'^ifbuUdT^^w^rthTse'ctr^^^^^^^^ ^ spidcr to scrvc as a nursery for her young ones, 

 a comer of the verandah. ^j^^ jj-j addition thc young of a Certain species of 



snail like to crowd into the same refuge; so that, as Mr. R. C. L. Perkins tells us, 

 you may find a curled leaf occupied by these three kinds of tenants at the same time. 

 Two European species of agenia (one of them British) make vase-like nests, 

 which they hide in tree-hollows, wall-holes, and similar places. The black agenia,^ 

 which is found in the South of England, contrives a nest much like a wide-mouthed 

 bottle, but it is not so accomplished in the potter's art as some of those we have 

 mentioned, for it does not appear to have learned the secret of kneading its materials 

 with saliva, and so its pots have not the proper permanency. For this reason 

 they are not placed in exposed situations, where the weather w^ould soon crumble 

 them. The little wasp has learned that such material would not be waterproof, 

 and so she takes care to line the nest inside with a coating of glaze, probably supplied 

 by her mouth, which serves to keep the contents dry. The cell is provisioned 

 with spiders which are paralyzed by biting instead of stinging, and their legs are 

 broken. An American species'' builds its clay cells in the shape of little barrels, 

 which it hides under prostrate trees. 



1 Eumcncs unguiculata. ^ £_ conica. ^ Trypoxylon albitarsc. * T. aurifrons. ^ Odyncrus. 

 ^ Agenia carbonaria. ' A. bonibycina. 



