The Pelopaeus' Victuals 



stomach, in its chylific ventricle, a liquid 

 varnish which it disgorges into the meshes 

 of a rudimentary tissue of silk. Di- 

 rectly it trickles into the web, the varnish 

 hardens and becomes a lacquer of exquisite 

 daintiness. The larva next ejects at the 

 base of the cocoon, in the form of a hard 

 stercoral plug, the residue of the chemical 

 process accomplished in its stomach for the 

 elaboration of the varnish. This method is 

 that of the Spheges, the Ammophilse and the 

 Scoliae, who varnish the inner wrapper of 

 their multiple cocoons; and of the Crabro- 

 wasps, the Cerceres and the Philanthi, 1 

 whose delicate cocoon consists of only a 

 single thickness. 



The Pelopaeus adopts this last procedure. 

 When finished, her work is an amber-yel- 

 low fabric suggesting the outer skin of an 

 onion in fineness, colour, transparency and 

 the rustling sound which it emits when 

 fingered. Relatively long in comparison 

 with its width, as is demanded by the ca- 



1 For the Cerceris, cf. The Hunting Wasps: chaps, i. to 

 Hi; for the Philanthus, or Bee-eating Wasp, cf. Social Life 

 in the Insect World: chap. xiii. Some of the other Wasps 

 mentioned above will form the subject of chapters in a 

 later volume of this series entitled More Hunting Wasps. 

 — Translator's Note. 



103 



