164 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



fascinating. The solitary wasps are generally 

 considerably smaller than their social relations, 

 although in general appearance they are very 

 similar. The mandibles, or jaws, are long and 

 slender, and the tarsal claws are deeply toothed, 

 forming perfect little rakes. There are no 

 workers amongst the solitary wasps, and each 

 female acts independently, constructing her nest, 

 or burrow, and supplying her young with food 

 without any assistance from her own kind. 



The Wall Wasp (Odynerus parietum), or the 

 " False Wasp " as it is sometimes called, is one 

 of the commonest species of the solitary wasps ; 

 during the months of June and July these active 

 little creatures may often be seen busily engaged 

 in making their burrows in sunny, hard-baked, 

 clay banks, or old walls. They are pretty, 

 graceful-looking insects with the usual black 

 and yellow livery common to the wasps. The 

 Odynerus excavates a small chamber in the clay 

 or earth with the aid of its sharp jaws and comb- 

 like fore-feet, and to this it attaches a tiny bent 

 tube, made with some of the loose earth it has 

 thrown out from the cell. This little tunnel 

 forms the entrance to the cell, and is so exceed- 

 ingly fragile that it falls to pieces at a touch, 

 though it is strong enough to bear the light 

 weight of the little Odynerus, who crawls back- 

 wards and forwards through this entrance until 

 her work is completed ; she then breaks up the 

 little tunnel so that no trace of the entrance to 

 the nest is visible. 



As soon as she has constructed acell, Odynerus 

 starts off on a hunting expedition. She is very 



