24 Insect Architecture. 



which induced the wasp to carry off the fragments as they 

 were successively detached. That concealment was the 

 motive, indeed, was proved : for one of the fragments which 

 fell out of the hole by accident, she immediately sought for 

 at the bottom of the wall, and carried off like the rest. It 



Mandibles Jaws of Mason- A Va- p. Greatly magnified. 



was no easy matter to get out one of the fragments, as may 

 readily be conceived when the size of the insect is compared 

 with that of the entrance of which this () is the exact size, 

 as taken from the impression of a bit of dough upon the hole 

 when finished. It was only by seizing the fragment with her 

 jaws, and retreating backwards, that the matter could be 

 accomplished; though, after the interior of the excavation 

 was barely large enough to admit of her turning round, she 

 more than once attempted to make her exit head -foremost, 

 but always unsuccessfully. The weight of the fragments 

 removed did not appear to impede her flight, and she 

 generally returned to her task in about two or three minutes. 

 Within two days the excavation was completed ; but it 

 required two other days to line it with a coating of clay, to 

 deposit the eggs, two in number, and, no doubt, to imprison 

 a few live spiders or caterpillars for the young when hatched 

 a process which was first observed by Ray and Willughby,* 

 but which has since been frequently ascertained. In the 

 present instance, this peculiarity was not seen ; but the little 

 architect was detected in closing up the entrance, which was 

 formed of a layer of clay more than double the thickness of 



* Ray, Hist. Insect., 254. 



