374 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



nels in the ground, but the greater number were of mud or 

 clay. There were groups of cells of various shapes and di- 

 mensions, plastered in a great variety of situations. Many 

 of them were plain, others elaborately decorated with hun- 

 dreds of tiny spines, each fashioned of clay, or rounded 

 domes that fitted into one another like the roofs of a pagoda. 

 I found series of miniature earthen jugs, ten or twelve placed 

 in an irregular line and often of colored clay, reminding one 

 of a group of tiny pots ready for the baking. There were 

 all styles, shapes and sizes and a great range of colors. 



Thus working in Guiana I found these insects in a va- 

 riety of roles quite new to me. Their nests were different; 

 there were no cold seasons to affect nesting activities ; nesting 

 periods were more extended and the creatures themselves 

 were far more numerous than I had found them anywhere 

 before. It was often difHcult to keep all the species under 

 constant observation, and for all their abundance many trou- 

 bles were experienced in following out their life histories. 



Intensive insect study in the tropics is beset by many 

 difficulties. To follow out a life history successfully, means 

 not only securing sufficient material for study, but great care 

 in the handling of that material. ^Mortality is very high 

 among larval, or young wasps and bees. They are extremely 

 tender and subject to sickness and death, from seemingh' 

 negligible factors. Moisture is a great danger. A certain 

 amount is necessary, but the least bit too much in the grub's 

 cradle when feeding or pupating often turns a healthy bit 

 of life into a black putrid mass in a few hours. Too much 

 heat or direct light, are other dangers to be reckoned with. 

 Sometimes the wasplets are injured and grow abnormally 

 from causes that I have often been at a loss to explain. 

 Molds play a deadly part, but tiny red ants proved the great- 

 est scourge in the nursery of my youngsters. They lurked 

 about ever ready to swarm in over the nascent insects. They 

 managed somehow to become suddenly numerous upon ap- 

 parently inaccessible swinging shelves. They crawled in 



