The Mason-Wasps 



the egg of O. reniformis swinging from the 

 ceiling. The cart, ignorant of its precious 

 burden, might have undone everything. 



But no, to my great surprise. In most 

 of the cells which were sufficiently recent I 

 find the egg in place, slung sometimes from 

 the arched roof of the reed, sometimes from 

 the upper edge of the partition, by a thread 

 which is just visible and about one twenty- 

 fifth of an inch long. The egg /is itself 

 cylindrical and measures about an eighth 

 of an inch. The reeds, opened wide and 

 placed in glass tubes, enable me to witness 

 the hatching, which takes place three days 

 after the closing of the cell and probably 

 four days after the laying. 



I see the new-born grub enclosed almost 

 wholly, head downwards, in the sheath pro- 

 vided by the pellicle of the egg. Very 

 slowly it slides forward in this scabbard and 

 the suspension-cord stretches to the same ex- 

 tent. It is extremely fine in the part con- 

 sisting of the original thread, but very much 

 thicker in the portion resulting from the 

 slough of the egg. The grub's head 

 reaches the nearest piece of game at one 

 point or another; and the fragile creature 

 takes its first mouthful. If anything 

 Startles it, if I tap the reed, it lets go and 



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