4<)8 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



sand is hard and linn, and therefore to be tunnelled with safetv, though with greai 

 labour. Kirby and Spence tell us picturesquely that " its mandibles alone would 

 be scarcely capable of penetrating [the hardened sand], were it not provided with 

 a slightly glutinous liquor which it pours out of its mouth, that, like the vinegar 

 with which Hannibal softened the Alps, acts upon the cement of the sand, and 

 renders the separation of the grains easy to the double ]:)ickaxe with whic^li our little 

 pioneer is furnished." 



The mason-wasp is both mason and miner. It bores a cvlindrical ca\ it\" two 

 or three inches deep, which branches below into three or four cells ; but instead 

 of sweeping away the pellets it quarries, as manv mining Insects are careful to do, 

 it uses them for building up around the mouth of its excavation a round tower, 

 at first straight, then curved to correspond with tlie cur\'ature of its own bodw 

 The purpose of this tower appears to be to make it difficult for any parasitical 

 Insect to enter and lay eggs in the cavity during the abserice of the mason-wasp 

 when seeking provisions. It is only a temporary erection, and therefore it is not 



made solid ; the stones of which it is 

 constructed, though firmly connected, 

 leave little interstices, as though the 

 builder were anxious to make the material 

 go as far as possible. The cells are fur- 

 nished each with a number of small, green 

 caterpillars, which naturallv curl into a 

 circle when alarmed. These, of course, 

 are first stung, so that the\' have little 

 or no power of movement. The egg is 

 laid in the far end of the cell, so that on 

 hatching the grub first attacks the cater- 

 pillar that was first stung. 



x\fter filling up the cell with from 

 twenty to fortv small caterpillars, the 

 mason- wasp takes down her tower, stone 

 bv stone, and uses the materials for building up the mouth of the nest solidly. The 

 building of this tower is, therefore, a fine example of economy of labour. Instead 

 of dropping the material excavated from the hard sandbank, and having to collect 

 it or similar material again for building up the entrance, she stacks it ready to hand, 

 and in the doing of it contrives a shelter whi(^h protects her progeny horn tlu' 

 insidious attacks of a deadly enemy. 



The "deadly enemy" is the brilliant little niby-tail wasj),^ wh©se head 

 and fore-body arc blue or green in different aspects, and ihv hind-body red and 

 gold, the entire body having a metallic ])olish that makes the little creature glow 

 and flash in tlie sunshine. It ai)pears to be chiefly against the ruby-tail that 

 the mason builds her temporary towers; but wood-ants- have, in some districts, 

 to be guarded against also. 



Some of the mason-wasps carry their labour-saving ideas further, and look 

 out for defects in human masonr3^ Where a chink has been U it in tlu- masonry 



* Chr^-sis bidcntata, - I'ormica rula. 



Phulo by] 



[E. Strp, F.L.S. 



The Mason-\\'asp. 



This clever little artificer has its body ringed with black and 

 yellow. It digs a tunnel in a tirm sandbank and builds a tem- 

 porary tower e£ the excavated material. Four times the actual 

 size. 



