THE MASONS 203 



wasp got throug-h with it, perhaps with a 

 view to strengthening the whole, though 

 sometimes the cells were distinct, as at first 

 made, with pretty braided roofs. For the 

 mud was laid on in strips, first one side 

 and then the other, giving a braided effect 

 to the result. 



As soon as a cell was completed, it was 

 stocked with provisions and the opening 

 shut up with a pellet of mud. 



The mud-dauber does not give her off- 

 spring personal attention. She does not 

 come day after day and put food into 

 ever-open mouths. Being quite alone in 

 her maternal duties, she cannot possibly 

 rear her family and defend them after the 

 manner of the Vesp^. She takes care of 

 them, but it is after her own fashion. She 

 catches spiders, and fills the little mud 

 cell full. Upon one of the first caught, she 

 deposits an tg^. This is usually attached 

 to the succulent abdomen of the spider, 

 and when the cell is as full as it can be, 



