The Mason- Wasps 



that there is no doubt: cavities like this, so 

 large and so accurately formed, do not exist 

 ready-made. That the mother foundress at 

 the beginning, working by herself and eager 

 to get on quickly, availed herself of some 

 chance refuge, due perhaps to the excava- 

 tions of the Mole, is possible; but the rest 

 of the work, the making of the enormous 

 crypt, was done by the Wasps alone. Then 

 what has become of the rubbish, the mass 

 of earth whose bulk would be that of a cube 

 measuring some twenty inches on every side? 



The Ant erects the excavated material into 

 a cone-shaped hillock on the threshold of her 

 abode. With her two or three bushels of 

 earth, what a mound would not the Wasp 

 achieve, if heaping were her habit! But 

 far from it: she leaves not a scrap of rub- 

 bish outside her door; everything is perfectly 

 tidy. What has she done with the cum- 

 brous mass? 



The answer is supplied by various peace- 

 able insects which are easy to observe. Con- 

 sider a Mason-bee clearing an old nest which 

 she proposes to use; watch a Leaf-cutter 

 cleaning out an Earth-worm's burrow in 

 which to stack her leafy bags. Holding a 

 trifle of some sort in their teeth, a shred of 

 silky tapestry or a crumb of earth, they fly off 

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