The Mason-Wasps 



The capsules of E. pomiformis are lit- 

 erally crammed with game. It is true that 

 the morsels are very small. My notes 

 speak of fourteen green caterpillars in one 

 cell and sixteen in a second. I have no 

 other information about the integral diet of 

 this Wasp, whom I have neglected some- 

 what, preferring to study her cousin, the 

 builder of rockwork domes. As the two 

 sexes differ in size, though not so greatly as 

 in E. Amade\ } I am inclined to think that 

 those two well-filled cells belonged to fe- 

 males and that the males' cells must have 

 a less sumptuous table. Not having seen 

 for myself, I am content to set down this 

 mere suspicion. 



What I have seen and often seen is the 

 pebbly nest, with the larva inside and the 

 provisions partly consumed. To continue 

 the rearing at home and follow my charges' 

 progress from day to day was a business 

 which I could not resist; besides, so far as I 

 was able to see, it was easily managed. I 

 had had some practice in this foster-father's 

 trade; my association with the Bembex, the 

 Ammophila, the Sphex * and many others 

 had turned me into a passable insect- 



1 Cf. The Hunting Wasps: chaps, iv. to viii. and xiii. to 

 xx. — Translator's Note. 



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