tit PERMIT HOMES 87 



may be, it is a temporary one. Present only 

 while the victualling is going on, and the eggs are 

 laid, subsequently this entrance to the gallery is 

 pulled down, and constitutes the material that 

 goes to fill up the lip of the hole. 



Eumenes coarctata, the only British example of its 

 genus, an odd-looking wasp, has the first segment of 

 its abdomen drawn out to form a decided foot-stalk, 

 so that the abdomen appears joined to the thorax as 

 by a bit of fine black wire. Its nests are small, 

 globular, and vase-like, built of mud, and fastened to 

 the stems of various plants, the common heath being 

 the greatest favourite. Each contains one cell, and 

 is the habitation of one occupant. E. pomiformis 

 affixes her nests to walls. E. petiolata, conica, and 

 esuriens, Indian species, seem to prefer the wood- 

 work of houses, such as door- and window-frames 

 and posts, and, where the locality is suitable, some- 

 times a succession of cells will be constructed side by 

 side, often more than a foot in length. The nest of 

 petiolata is the size of a pigeon's egg. Whatever the 

 exigencies of the situation, the Eumenes strives to 

 retain the spherical form of the edifice and the 

 recurving brim (see Fig. 7). 



The Sphegidae, Pompilidae, and Bembecidae, are 

 popularly classed together as the Sand-wasps. As 

 their name denotes, they love to form homes in sandy 

 earth, where they lay eggs, and stock them with 

 living insects, rendered powerless by their poisonous 

 stings. The well-known Sphex, the typical genus of 

 the Sphegidse, is scattered over the greater part of 

 the world ; the English species there is but one is 



