The Mason-Wasps 



employ arched centerings to support the 

 masonry of a dome while building; the 

 Eumenes, more daring than we, erects her 

 cupola without any scaffolding. 



A round opening is contrived at the top; 

 and above this opening rises a funnelled 

 mouth built of pure cement. It might be 

 the graceful neck of some Etruscan vase. 

 When the cell is victualled and the egg laid, 

 the mouth is closed with a cement plug; and 

 in this plug is set a little pebble, one alone, 

 no more: the ritual never varies. This 

 work of rustic architecture has naught to 

 fear from the inclemencies of the weather; 

 it does not yield to the pressure of the 

 fingers; it resists the knife that attempts to 

 remove it without breaking it. Its nipple- 

 shape and the bits of gravel wherewith it 

 bristles all over the outside remind one of 

 certain cromlechs of olden time, of certain 

 tumuli whose domes are strewn with Cy- 

 clopean blocks of stone. 



Such is the appearance of the edifice when 

 the cell stands alone; but the Wasp nearly 

 always fixes other domes against her first, 

 to the number of five or six or more. This 

 shortens the labour by allowing her to use 

 the same partition for two adjoining rooms. 

 The original elegant symmetry is lost and 

 8 



