THE MASONS 205 



used as food on purpose to paralyse, and 

 not to kill it. Since in nearly all nests a 

 part — and sometimes all 

 — of the spiders are 

 dead, and since the larvae 

 eat the dead as eagerly y^ S ^'^fP^r 



as the living, it is prob- 

 able the stinging is done, primarily, for 

 the purpose of quieting the spiders as 

 soon as possible. 



The tgg in the mud cell hatches in two 

 or three days, the larva breakfasts, dines, 

 and sups on abundance of fat spider, and 

 grows apace. 



When the larva begins its gastronomic 

 operations, it is a little oblong white object 

 without legs, lying in a room tightly 

 packed with luscious spiders. When it 

 ends its gormandising, the cell is still filled, 

 but not now with spider — in the form of 

 spider. The spider has been duly con- 

 verted into wasp. When, by some chemi- 

 cal and vital action, the tiny white larva 



