786 



glea:sijngs Lis bee culture. 



Oct 



port was made on a postal card, and the end 

 of the word " manufacturers " ran off the 

 margin, so it was a very difficult matter for 

 the compositor or proof-reader to decide 

 just what the word was intended to be ; but 

 it certainly looks more like " manufactur- 

 ed " than any thing else. By making tlie 

 word terminate with ers instead of ed, the 

 meaning would be quite different. 



MUD-'WASPS. 



SOMETHING NOT ABOUT BEES. 



■|rT was with great interest that I read Prof. 

 1^ Cook's article about " mud-wasps," in Glean- 

 ^l INGS for Sept. l.otb; and were it not that I 

 ■^ wish to help the juveniles to become interest- 

 ed in the study of natural history, I should not 

 say a word on the subject further than the profes- 

 sor has done. However, as I believe that, to get 

 childi-en interested in studying- the wonderful 

 things which nature unfolds to us is one of the 

 helps which lead on to a higher and nobler man- 

 hood and womanhood than would otherwise be at- 

 tained to, I will give some of my observations re- 

 garding the mud-wasps, lioping that the juveniles 

 will be sufficiently interested to see which is right 

 on a few points in which Prof. Cook and I differ. 



Years ago, when I was a " juvenile " ( I have not 

 fully past that stage yet), we had at our house what 

 we called the " woodhouse (chamber," in which was 

 stored relics of the past, and also a bod in which I 

 was calledoccasionally to sleep on nights when oth- 

 er beds ill the house were filled with company. 

 This room was open on one end, which was toward 

 the woodshed, and on one side of the woodshed an 

 opening was left for getting wood into the building 

 so we could work out of the storm, on rainy and 

 snowy days in winter; so that practically there was 

 no hindrance to birds and insects frecjuenliug it. 

 This chamber, with its old relics, had great attrac- 

 tions for me, so it will not be wondered that I spent 

 many pleasant hours therein; and it was here that 

 I first learned of my friend the mud-wasp. One day 

 while up there looking at an old spinning-wheel 

 head, and planning how I could make my little wa- 

 ter-wheel out at the brook turn it for me, I heard a 

 singing noise which sounded something like some 

 one singing softly the following: " Tee-ee-e, wee-e, 

 wati-au-au, tau, au, tety tauty tau," etc., which at- 

 tracted my attention and aroused my curiosity to 

 such an extent that all thoughts of my water-wheel 

 left me, and I went to see what produced such a 

 funny noise. Arriving where I thought it was, in a 

 dimly lighted part of the attic, 1 stopped and listen- 

 ed, but all was still. I sat down to wait, till my eyes 

 became used to the dull light, hoping that I could 

 see what it was that made the noise, even if it was 

 then keeping still. In a moment or two I heard the 

 low buzzing of the wasp's wings, theowner of which 

 was soon revealed to my vision, for by this time I 

 could see quite well in this dimly lighted place, and, 

 following the wasp with my eyes, it soon stopped 

 on some rolls of dirt about as large as my little fin- 

 ger was at that time. After passing over these rolls 

 of dirt for a little time, it came to one end of one 

 of the rolls that was wet, as I knew by the color. 

 The wasp now lowered her head, when 1 saw that 

 she had a little ball of moist dirt in her mouth, and 

 immediately on the dirt touching that of the cell or 



rolls, as I then called them, thie song commenced, 

 and kept on until I fairly laughed with delight. 

 Since that time I have heard that song hundreds of 

 times, but never so loud as on that day; not that 

 the wasp sings any louder at one time than at an- 

 other, but on this occasion this wasp was building 

 her nest on a piece of paper that had been pasted 

 over a crack in the boards to keep the wind from 

 blowing on to the bed on which I sometimes slept, 

 and this piece of tightly drawn paper answered to 

 the vibrations which the wasp made in producing 

 the sound, very much as the string to the violin 

 does to the touch of the bow. Well, this wasp was 

 of a dark brown color, her abdomen and other parts 

 of her body shining like polished ebony; and in 

 all of my watching of this curious insect ever since, 

 1 have never seen one of any other color which 

 made this singing noise, nor have I ever heard this 

 singing but that, upon looking, 1 have found the 

 same colored wasp at the same work— that of build- 

 ing cells. By this noise the juveniles can easily tell 

 how to find these wasps and their nests. 



While sitting there watching, there soon came 

 along another wasp of a shining steel-blue color, 

 and this one had a spider in its mouth, which it de- 

 posited in the opening to the cell, along which open- 

 ing the other wasp was building. This blue wasp 

 was not more than three-fourths as large as the 

 other, but the two seemed to be at work in unison; 

 for as the cell progressed in building by the brown 

 wasp, the blue one filled it with spiders. I have al- 

 ways supposed that the brown wasp was the female, 

 and the blue one the male; but this may not be so, 

 for I am no entomologist. As Prof. Cook says, the 

 spiders peopling this nest are all of one kind, that 

 being the kind which weave the handsome open 

 web we see sparkling with dew upon it on still 

 mornings in July and August. Now, the main 

 point in which Prof. Cook and I differ is where he 

 says that " each spider receives a wasp-egg," while 

 all of my observation goes to prove that the egg is 

 deposited in the bottom of the cell, and that the 

 spiders, varying from 8 to 20 in number, according 

 to size, are put in for the larva, when hatched from 

 this egg, to feed upon, said larva eating as many as 

 30 spiders in some instances that have come under 

 my notice, judging from the refuse which was left 

 in the cell, and from opening them in all stages, 

 from the egg to the full-grown pupa. Now, chil- 

 dren (and older readers too, if they feel so disposed), 

 study into this matter and tell us next summer 

 which is right, and by so doing you will learn much 

 that will make life interesting to you. Boys that 

 sit around country stores on dry-goods boxes, and 

 chew tobacco till the spittle runs out of the corners 

 of their mouths, like some I know of, do not make 

 the Wendell Phillippses of the past; and girls who 

 do not aspire higher than to look after the wants of 

 their wax dolls all the while, will never make the 

 Mary T. Lathraps of the present. 



Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



Very good, old friend. There is one 

 thing that particularly pleases me in this 

 little sketch. Friend JDoolittle, when even 

 a boy, was very fond of the study of insects. 

 I have heard that very song of the mud- 

 wasp, and T believe I have more than once 

 been soundly reprimanded for being gone so 

 long, when the truth was I was so intent on 

 studying these insects, the mud-wasps, as 

 well as their near relatives that build the 



