34 INSECT BEHAVIOR 



tion, where her rough red columns of clay stand for years as monu- 

 ments over the birth beds of her offspring. 



The nest, a single column of clay, two and one-half to four inches 

 in length and close to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, consists 

 of a series of V-shaped layers placed side by side. The entrance 

 to the nursery faces toward the ground. Inside it is divided into 

 several ten by twenty millimeter cells, never exceeding four in num- 

 ber, which, compared with the exterior, are quite smooth and pol- 

 ished. 



Here is an interesting fact; if the wasp has chosen her original 

 habitat among the stumps, she abandons it when finished as an incon- 

 spicuous gray blotch that blends nicely with its surroundings. In the 

 forest she finds no red or orange clay for building material. The 

 swamps yield a rich brown and the brook banks a shade of gray. 

 The nest is of necessity somber in color. On the other hand, the 

 nests placed in the shutters of houses were all of rich, orange-red 

 clay, collected from a nearby excavation in the trail. They were 

 conspicuous objects to say the least, but the wasp quickly covered her 

 fresh paint with a neatly arranged layer of termite's wings, cast off 

 spider's skins and other bits of refuse. At first I put the occurrence 

 down as accidental, but careful examination leads me to believe that 

 it is a regular habit of the wasp, in view of the fact that not a square 

 millimeter of the underlying clay showed through the veil. When^ 

 the nests were finished they appeared old and disused. 



Each cell is usually provisioned with four wood roaches. Upon 

 the last one placed in the cell a single white egg, with a yellow 

 median line, is deposited. It is thrust under the fore leg of the 

 roach, where the leg joins the insect's body. It is a tender spot where 

 the young wasp, two days later, may easily bury its head in the 

 creature's flesh. The number of roaches in a cell varies according 

 to their aggregate. Thus a cell may contain two medium and one 



