68 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



attached at one point to the roof of her cavern for, 

 unlike most builders, she does not lay her foundations 

 below, but builds from above downwards. At the ex- 

 tremity of this pedicle, three shallow, cup-shaped cells 

 are formed of the same material, and placed vertically, 

 with the mouth downwards ; then a number of layers of 

 the same papery substance are arranged above the cells, 

 so as to form a dome -shaped roof. 



Now there can be a commencement of egg-laying; 

 each cell is furnished with one egg, which is glued to its 

 side. The egg soon hatches, and the footless grub that 

 issues from it is said at first to maintain its position in 

 the inverted cell, and prevent itself from falling out of 

 its bed, by a sticky secretion from its own body. The 

 first batch of eggs produces workers, and it is essential 

 for the queen to get them through their metamorphoses 

 as speedily as possible, that she may have assistants to 

 relieve her of some portion of her multifarious duties, 

 which would soon become too onerous for her. 



She has now to collect food for the hungry grubs, 

 which cannot provide for themselves, and are entirely 

 dependent on what she brings them. Sailing forth, she 

 will soon seize a luckless fly or other small insect, whose 

 corpse will be carried home, and doled out to the nest- 

 lings as they are able to receive it, their mother having 

 made a previous mastication of the morsels. They open 

 their little jaws, each armed with three teeth, and 

 the mother puts their food into their mouths much as a 

 bird would feed her callow brood. Fed several times a 

 day, and fattening on such food, the ugly grubs increase 

 rapidly in size, while the mother enlarges their cells as 

 necessity requires, making them hexagonal in their upper 

 part, and raising their walls by the addition of layer 

 upon layer of her building material till the grubs are 



