The Mason-Wasps 



cover or removed at will, provides alter- 

 nately the obscurity demanded by the Wasps' 

 labours and the light needed for my observa- 

 tions. 



The work is continued from one day to an- 

 other. The Wasps attend at the same time 

 to the larvae and to the house. The builders 

 begin to erect a wall round the most thickly- 

 colonized combs. Do they intend to repair 

 the disaster and build a new envelope, which 

 will replace the vanished enclosing wall? 

 The progress of the operation seems to tell 

 us no. They are simply continuing the work 

 which my terrible flask and my spade have 

 interrupted. Over an area embracing 

 hardly a third of the comb, they erect an 

 arched roof of paper scales which would 

 have been joined to the envelope of the nest 

 had it been intact. They are not beginning 

 again; they are continuing. 



In any case, the sort of tent thus obtained 

 shelters but a small part of the disk of cells. 

 This is not for lack of materials. To begin 

 with, there is the slip of wood, providing, 

 in my opinion, an excellent supply of fibrous 

 scraps. But the Wasps do not touch it. 

 Perhaps I have chosen the wrong sort of 

 piece, being but ill-versed in the secrets of 

 Vespian paper-making. 

 272 



