THE CARPENTERS 243 



thousands of the cut ends of the straws 

 were exposed to view, and these proved 

 very attractive to rubrocinctum." 



These wasps provision their nests with 

 spiders, and with mud partition their tun- 

 nels into compartments. With them the 

 males are not the idle members of societv 

 that they are with so many of the wasps. 

 The female still makes the nest, or selects 

 the straw, as the case may be, provisions 

 and partitions it, but greatly to his credit 

 be it said, " When the preliminary work of 

 clearing the nest and erecting the inner 

 partition has been performed by the female, 

 the male takes up his station inside the 

 cell, facing outward, his little head just 

 filling the opening. Here he stands on 

 guard for the greater part of the time until 

 the nest is provisioned and sealed up, 

 occasionally varying the monotony of his 

 task by a short flight. As a usual thing 

 all the work is performed by the female, 

 who applies herself to her duties with 



