A MASON-WASP 



food in the store. Not a mouthful is wasted, however, by 

 these economical creatures. When the meal is finished 

 there is practically nothing left of the whole heap of 

 Spiders. This life of gluttony lasts for eight or ten 

 days. 



The grub then sets to work to spin its cocoon, a sack 

 of pure, perfectly white silk, extremely delicate. Some- 

 thing more is required to make this sack tough enough 

 to be a protection, so the grub produces from its body 

 a sort of liquid varnish. As soon as it trickles into the 

 meshes of the silk this varnish hardens, and becomes a 

 lacquer of exquisite daintiness. The grub then fixes 

 a hard plug at the base of the cocoon to make all secure. 



When finished, the work is amber-yellow, and rather 

 reminds one of the outer skin of an onion. It has the 

 same fine texture, the same colour and transparency; 

 and like the onion skin it rustles when it is fingered. 

 From it, sooner or later according to temperature, the 

 perfect insect is hatched. 



It is possible, while the Wasp is storing her cell, to 

 play her a trick which will show how purely mechanical 

 her instincts are. A cell has just been completed, let 

 us suppose, and the huntress arrives with her first Spider. 

 She stores it away, and at once fastens her egg on the 

 plumpest part of its body. She sets out on a second 



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