240 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



It is always the female that digs out the 

 holes in the wood and catches and stings 

 the insects she puts in as food. The 

 '- male, having no sting, could not 

 assist in the provisioning of his 

 household even if his life were sufficiently 

 prolonged. 



The wasp leads a busy and arduous life, 

 and also a precarious one, as witness the 

 innumerable little nests of the various 

 species that have been begun but never 

 finished. 



On the logs of the Virginia cabin came 

 another species of miner wasp, smaller 

 than the first, but otherwise closely resem- 

 bling it. 



This little one made a tiny hole, just as 

 the larger one had done, but when it had 

 finished it lined its nest with a gluey 

 material from its own mouth and sealed 

 it — not with mud — but with a glistening 

 substance like the lining. 



