224 WASPS AND THEIRWAYS 



being divided into partitions, and again 

 the partitions are made as her ladyship 

 advances. 



When the tube is fairly started, if she 

 does not want to w^ait for its completion 

 before laying in provisions and depositing 

 eggs, the wasp fills the end of it with 

 spiders, lays her eggs on one of them, 

 builds a thick mud partition, and proceeds 

 to lengthen the tube. As soon as it is 

 long enough she stocks the next com- 

 partment, and closes it, and thus con- 

 tinues until she has finished five or six 

 cells. 



All the cells, or compartments, are of 

 the same size, and each is just the size to 

 hold a pupa. 



The wasp sings loudly as she builds her 

 pretty apartment-houses with their braided 

 roofs. 



These nests cannot be removed un- 

 broken, as the surface upon which they 

 rest forms the floor, and as there is no 



