THE INSECT AS A PARENT 2G9 



spinolce), watched by Mr. and Mrs. Peckham, appears not 

 to do so. " To determine this point ' (say these ob- 

 servers) " we marked six wasps by touching them with 

 differently coloured paints, putting near their nests pebbles 

 painted to correspond with the owners, and then watched 

 them closely for three hours. During this time the red 

 wasp returned regularly to the red nest, the blue to the 

 blue, and so on. They were watched for an hour and a 

 half on the following day with the same result, so that it 

 seems quite certain that spinolce- has only one nest at a time." 



The solitary true wasps, which make up the sub-family 

 Eumenince (page 99), are represented in Britain by some 

 sixteen species. Their habits resemble those of the diggers 

 in many respects, but they usually provision their cells 

 with small caterpillars, while most of them are inveterate 

 mud-daubers. One of our species (Eumenes coarctata) 

 constructs a little vase-like cell, usually upon a twig of 

 heath or some low-growing shrub ; the others, which are 

 all included in the genus Qdynerus, make their nests in 

 crevices of walls, in hollowed-out plant stems, or in sub- 

 terranean burrows ; while they occasionally adopt such 

 unconventional nesting-sites as door-locks, reels of cotton, 

 or even pistol-barrels. 



The solitary bees nest in a great variety of ways. 

 Many burrow into the ground, others into pith or wood, 

 while some construct earthen chambers in any suitable 

 crevice, or openly upon stones or masonry. In all cases, 

 however, the cells are stored with a mixture of honey and 

 pollen. The nurseries of the more primitive bees are 

 usually mere tunnels connecting a series of brood- 

 chambers, each of which contains an egg and the 

 appointed allowance of food. When the arrangements 

 are complete, the entrance to the tunnel is closed, the 

 young being left to their own devices. But many of the 



