CHAPTER XXV 



TWO I'OTTEK WASl'S 



Genus Kumenes 

 Fig. 12.5; 1-8 



I have still to complete the life histories of these two 

 wasps. Several facts are lacking, which is unfortunate. 

 ]3ut on the other hand I have learned much of interest con- 

 cerning them — sufficient, I think, to warrant the present 

 chapter. Beginning with the red Eiumenes, I will set down 

 what 1 know of each species after a few preliminary 

 comments. 



The two wasps are potters, but of widely different 

 tastes. The red or larger species is a finished artist fash- 

 ioning from three to twelve tiny, flat-bottomed jugs each 

 bearing a short neck and finished with a wide flaring lip. 

 They are placed in straight or serpentine row^s or in little 

 circular clusters in a variety of situations. Commonly they 

 are cemented to exposed timbers on the walls of buildings. 

 Others produce weird looking swellings upon table-legs or 

 window cords and occasionally one finds them plastered to 

 a bit of clothing left unused for a day or two. Color in the 

 jugs varies greatly. I have them in sombre grey, through 

 many shades of yellow to a rich red. Their delicacy and 

 beauty rivals that of hand-made potter) , but in form the 

 jugs never vary. 



The smaller or buff Eumenes is not an artist. Her jugs 

 are for service rather than display. They are flattened ob- 

 jects shaped like a kernel of corn and placed one upon an- 

 other in an irregular pile. Thus the finished nest, consisting 

 of foui- or five of these rough cells, resembles an unkem2)t 

 wad of clay. It is plastered to the underside of a leaf grow- 



