50 WASPS AND THEIRWAYS 



Moreover, when it rains the flower 

 droops a little on its stem, and the hood 

 also draws forward slightly, so as to pro- 

 tect the precious contents of the urn — 

 the nectar and pollen — from the rain. 



When the sun shines the flower straight- 

 ens up, as does also the hood. 



In figwort season the laurel too opens, 

 and then do the mountains of its choice 

 blossom like gardens. The observer looks 

 with amazed admiration upon undulating 

 banks of solid bloom walling in the path 

 he treads. Through the openings in these 

 banks, slopes in the distance shine white 

 as snow or glow rosy red. The wilder 

 the mountain, the mightier its outburst of 

 laurel beauty. 



The shallow cups of the flowers invite 

 the approach of the wasps, who also fre- 

 quent the safe recesses of the mountains, 

 where to the branches of the trees they 

 hang their paper homes. 



The laurel is not specially a wasp-flower, 



