CHAPTER XIII 

 THE MINING AND OTHER WASPS OF THE FAMILY 



EUMENIDAE 



Odynerus geminus Cress. [S. A. Rohwer]. 



Certainly one of the daintiest pieces of work executed by 

 the solitary wasps is the little turret built by Odynerus 

 geminus. This is a neat little chimney, built of pellets of 

 mud plastered one upon another, surmounting the wasp's 

 burrow in the ground. It is a little less than three-eighths 

 inch in diameter, outside measurement, very thin and deli- 

 cate, rough on the outside, showing the delineation of each 

 pellet of mud as it was superimposed upon the other, but 

 smooth on the inside; the interior diameter of one-fourth 

 inch is just the same as the hole in the earth beneath it 

 in fact, it is merely a built-up continuation of this hole. 

 The turret rises to a height of about three-fourths inch 

 above the surface of the ground, then turns at a right angle 

 and extends in a horizontal course for the same length. 

 The completed turret looks just like a miniature "elbow" 

 of a stovepipe (see fig. 54). 



The wasp has a pretty way of entering this novel tunnel ; 

 she stands beneath the turret, gently lifts the front part of 

 her body until the first pair of legs can reach the edges of 

 the chimney, and thus holding on she deftly raises the body 

 and climbs in. 



The gallery beneath this quaint architecture is clear-cut, 



299 



