374 TROPICAL WILD LIFE IN BRITISH GUIANA 



nels in the ground, but the greater number were of mud or 

 clay. There were groups of cells of various shapes and di- 

 mensions, plastered in a great variety of situations. Many 

 of them were plain, others elaborately decorated with hun- 

 dreds of tiny spines, each fashioned of clay, or rounded 

 domes that fitted into one another like the roofs of a pagoda. 

 I found series of miniature earthen jugs, ten or twelve placed 

 in an irregular line and often of colored clay, reminding one 

 of a group of tiny pots ready for the baking. There were 

 all styles, shapes and sizes and a great range of colors. 



Thus working in Guiana I found these insects in a va- 

 riety of roles quite new to me. Their nests were different ; 

 there were no cold seasons to affect nesting activities ; nesting 

 periods were more extended and the creatures themselves 

 were far more numerous than I had found them anywhere 

 before. It was often difficult to keep all the species under 

 constant observation, and for all their abundance many trou- 

 bles were experienced in following out their life histories. 



Intensive insect study in the tropics is beset by many 

 difficulties. To follow out a life history successfully, means 

 not only securing sufficient material for study, but great care 

 in the handling of that material. Mortality is very high 

 among larval, or young wasps and bees. They are extremely 

 tender and subject to sickness and death, from seemingly 

 negligible factors. Moisture is a great danger. A certain 

 amount is necessary, but the least bit too much in the grub's 

 cradle when feeding or pupating often turns a healthy bit 

 of life into a black putrid mass in a few hours. Too much 

 heat or direct light, are other dangers to be reckoned with. 

 Sometimes the wasplets are injured and grow abnormally 

 from causes that I have often been at a loss to explain. 

 Molds play a deadly part, but tiny red ants proved the great- 

 est scourge in the nursery of my youngsters. They lurked 

 about ever ready to swarm in over the nascent insects. They 

 managed somehow to become suddenly numerous upon ap- 

 parently inaccessible swinging shelves. They crawled in 



