222 WASPS AND THEIRW AYS 



metallic blue, and her wings are also blue, 

 with lovely purple lights on them. 



She is fond of finding her way into 

 attics and under roofs, and there making 

 her little mud-nests. In some sections of 

 the country she is even more common 

 than cementarius, and the habits of the 

 two are quite similar. 



Indeed, all the mud-daubers live and 

 work like members of one family. 



They all require a great deal of water, 

 and they are not at all particular about the 

 purity of their drink. A thirsty cementa- 

 rius once flew to a paint-box, and alighting 

 in one of the compartments containing a 

 vivid blue paint, there drank deep draughts 

 with evident satisfaction. 



One cannot help wondering what might 

 have been the consequences if she had 

 been kept on a diet of difi^erent coloured 

 paints. Would she have become brilliantly 

 variegated,' as some flowers do when their 

 stems are put into coloured water, or would 



