Chapter XI 



WORKERS IN CLAY 



THE nests of Pelopaeus coeruleus and Pelopaeus 

 cementarius, our two mud-daubers, are common 

 under eaves and in other sheltered places, and many a 

 country boy on opening them has been astonished to 

 find that they do not contain wasps, but are crammed 

 with spiders. Let them alone, however, and the wasps 

 will arrive, for somewhere in the mass is an egg; and 

 when it hatches the spiders will serve as breakfast, din- 

 ner and tea for the larva, until the change from the 

 Arachnida to the Hymenoptera has been accomplished. 

 Poor spiders! it is a wonder that there are any left, such 

 thousands and tens of thousands are destroyed by these 

 tremendously energetic enemies. 



Of what is Pelopaeus thinking as, humming loudly, 

 she jams her paralyzed and benumbed victims into her 

 little cylindrical tubes? If only we could get inside of 

 that little head ! If only we could be wasps for a day, 

 and then come back and tell about it, how much vain 

 speculation would be saved ! We can understand her 



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