422 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



fluid that oozes from the wound as mucilage with whicli to 

 secure the position of her egg. The grub would come to 

 life then with its infant mouth already upon the opening that 

 its mother had drilled. Such, I believe is the case, but let 

 it not stand as fact. Further observation will first be 

 necessary. 



The grub feeds for six days — during this time it goes 

 about its meal in a thorough manner so that in the end not a 

 hair of the stored spider remains. Further the larva has 

 changed greatly in size. At birth it measures foiu* millime- 

 ters, now it is seventeen millimeters long and ready to spin 

 its cocoon. 



Spinning is a laborious process requiring three whole 

 days. A slight network of silk is first throwii about the cell, 

 within which an inner cocoon of far more substantial char- 

 acter is then constructed. It is somewhat longer than the 

 grub, torpedo shaped and reddish brown in color, which is 

 due to the varnish, so commonly employed by the larvae of 

 Hymenoptera, showing through from the inside. 



The cocoon is in no way remarkable, in fact it is quite 

 simple. I have seen other larvae build more elaborate ones 

 in a daj^ yet the dauber requires seventy odd hours for so 

 simple an operation. Its nature is sluggish from the outset, 

 and throughout its immature life it is slow about its affairs. 

 The egg requires three days to hatch, the grub feeds six days, 

 therefore it logically follows that spinning should be a leis- 

 urely process. The grub therefore takes its time and is none 

 the worse for it. 



Seven days after spinning, pupation takes place. The 

 creature now lies motionless in the usual quiet state that ac- 

 companies this condition. Colorless and stately, lying upon 

 its back with folded arms in its tomb of masonry, the j^npal 

 corpse awaits a reincarnation that in twenty days brings 

 forth a perfect insect. 



Stupid affairs of the wasp world are generously heaped 

 upon the dauber. Before me lies an oddly-shaped nest of 



