WORKERS IN CLAY 



It is strange enough that with no one to teach her 

 Pelopaeus knew how to make her cell; but now she must 

 do her hunting, and it is stranger still that she should 

 be impelled to catch nothing but spiders. How does 

 she know a spider from a fly, and why should she pre- 

 fer one to the other? Not so unreasonable as some 

 wasps, however, she demands nothing further than that 

 her prey shall belong to this great group, and passes 

 lightly over differences of species and genera. Her 

 powerful sting fits her to cope with anything she may 

 meet ; but as the size of the cell must be taken into con- 

 sideration, and the victim must be carried home on the 

 wing, she is on the lookout for something not too large. 

 Here then she ceases to be an automaton, and to some 

 extent makes use of her wits. 



How does Pelopaeus seize her spider ? When and 

 how many times is it stung? Is the wound given with 

 discrimination, a certain point in the ganglion being 

 pricked, so that the spider may be paralyzed, but not 

 killed? Is there any malaxation? 



These were important questions to us, and we were 

 therefore greatly excited over our first hunt. One of 

 the blue wasps came flying along, alighted on our cot- 

 tage wall, and began her search, creeping into corners 

 and cracks and investigating cottony lumps of web. 

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