428 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



An East Indian wasp ^ makes clay pots like 

 those of eumenes, and stores them with stung cater- 

 pillars. The pots are attached to wood. Of an allied 

 species,- Sir Richard Owen complained that it 

 obliterates Eg3^ptian hieroglyphics by plastering 

 its cells among them. Some thousands of years 

 ago, when an ancient Egyptian was being con- 

 verted into a mummy, one of these wasps had 

 the fortune to be wrapped up with him. When, in 

 later times, Dr. Birch, of the British Museum, unrolled 

 the wrappings of that mummy, the wasp came to 

 light, to prove that this potter was an ancient Egyptian also. 



Photo by] [E. Step, F.L.S. 



A BoRNEAN Potter. 



Several related species of potters are found 

 in the Far East. They make pots of clay 

 much after the style of our heath potter, 

 storing them with caterpillars. 



The Humble-Bee Fly. 



We have already mentioned how the naturalists of a century ago saw in the 

 mimetic resemblance of a species of drone-fly a special intervention of Providence to 

 enable the fly to slip into a bee's nest unnoticed, in order that it might lay its eggs 

 there, and so bring about the ruin of the unoffending bee-colonv. As we then pointed 

 out, one of the weaknesses of the argument is that the drone-flv is in no sense an 

 enemy to the bee, but a distinct friend. Had they pitched upon the humble-bee fly ^as 

 their recipient of special Providential favour there might have been something in it ; 

 though even then it would have been hard to understand why the industrious bee 

 should have been victimized in order that a mere parasite brood should thrive. 



The humble-bee fly is got up to resemble one of the smaller humble-bees, and 

 the likeness is achieved mainly by the dense pile of silkv brown hairs that covers 

 the bodv. and by the long, bee-like " tongue." But there can be little doubt that 

 this livery is not intended to delude bees, but rather to deceive the enemies of flies 

 into the belief that this fly is some kind of a bee — therefore, provided with a sting, 

 and better left alone. As a matter of fact, though the humble-bee fly does victimize 

 humble-bees, it appears to be more of a nuisance to the solitary mining bees. 

 Dr. T. A. Chapman has made careful observations upon its behaviour towards andrena 



and to the tower-building wasp odyncrus. From these 

 observations it appears that the female fly does not 

 -•^«^*^ enter the nest of the bee to lay her eggs, but, whilst 

 still on the wing, flings her egg; as it were against the 

 bank where the bees are mining. Proximitv is apparentlv 

 enough, and the newly hatched grub probably attains 

 its goal more safely than if its mother attempted to 

 place the egg upon its victim. 



Later Dr. Chapman found both the grub and the 

 chrysalis in the cells of a mining bee* The grubs at 

 first sight, owing to their form, might be mistaken for 

 those of a bee, but an examination of the head shows 

 it to be that of a two-winged fly. Pl has a very delicate 

 skin throuijh which are seen masses of fat, and throuirh 



The Black Bottle-maker. 



This little potter-wasp, which may be found 

 in Southern Britain, constructs its nest in 

 the shape of a wide-mouthed bottle; but 

 it is not so accomplished a potter as some 

 others, and its work does not stand exposure 

 to bad weather. It is placed, therefore, 

 where it will not be fully exposed, and it is 

 lined with a coating of glaze. 



Rhygchium nitidiihini. 



K. lirunnt'iini. 



Bombylius major. •■ Andrena labialis. 



