CHAPTER XXV 



TWO POTTER AVASPS 



Genus Kumcnes 

 Fig. 125; 1-8 



I have still to complete the life histories of these two 

 wasps. Several facts are lacking, which is unfortunate. 

 But on the other hand I have learned much of interest con- 

 cerning them — sufficient, I think, to warrant the present 

 chaj)ter. Beginning with the red Eumenes, I will set down 

 what I know of each species after a few preliminary 

 comments. 



The two wasps are potters, but of widely different 

 tastes. The red or larger species is a finished artist fash- 

 ioning from three to twelve tiny, flat-bottomed jugs each 

 bearing a short neck and finished with a wide flaring lip. 

 They are placed in straight or serpentine rows or in little 

 circular clusters in a variety of situations. Commonly they 

 are cemented to exposed timbers on the walls of buildings. 

 Others produce weird looking swellings upon table-legs or 

 window cords and occasionally one finds them plastered to 

 a bit of clothing left unused for a day or two. Color in the 

 jugs varies greatly. I have them in sombre grey, through 

 many shades of yellow to a rich red. Their delicacy and 

 beauty rivals that of hand-made pottery, but in form the 

 jugs never vary. 



The smaller or buff Eumenes is not an artist. Her jugs 

 are for service rather than display. They are flattened ob- 

 jects shaped like a kernel of corn and placed one upon an- 

 other in an irregular pile. Thus the finished nest, consisting 

 of four or five of these rough cells, resembles an unkempt 

 wad of clay. It is plastered to the underside of a leaf grow- 



