ONE-BANDKI) DACBKR 417 



ing which time the wasp buzzed continually and held her 

 abdomen at the end of its long petiole high in the air, as a 

 balance w^eight to her lowered head on the other end. The 

 fore legs w^ere used as much as the mandibles, thus her dumb- 

 bell-like body swung pivoted upon the central pair of legs. 



When the foundations were laid she proceeded with the 

 cell itself, bringing thirty loads of nmd per hour. In a little 

 over two hours the cell w'as complete, a neatly rounded tube, 

 thirty millimeters long and sixteen millimeters in diameter, 

 the result of some sixtv-five loads of mortar. 



In fashioning the tube, the first few pellets were depos- 

 ited side by side and raised into a semi-circular mound or 

 half disk stood on end. Here again the w^ork was accom- 

 plished w^ith her mandibles and fore legs. The clay was 

 pinched ujj between the tarsi and then shaped principally 

 witli the mandibles W'hich acted like a pair of flattened tongs. 

 When the disk was finished the successive loads of mud were 

 pressed against its inner sm-face, usually at one side and then 

 moulded into a narrow ridge running around its circumfer- 

 ence. Thereafter each pellet was fashioned into a ribbon of 

 plaster placed against the side of the preceding layer. 

 When the job w^as finished these individual layers were quite 

 visible so that the separate rings of which the nest was con- 

 structed, could easily be counted. 



In coming to her nest the wasp often experienced great 

 difficulty in locating it. She would approach the brick pil- 

 lar with her mortar pellet, circle the column once and then 

 alight, as a general rule, some distance above or below the 

 nest. A thorough inspection of the spot to which her gen- 

 eral sense of direction brought her, would follow. This in- 

 spection never extended bej^ond one or two bricks at most. 

 Finding the cell missing, she would take wing, circle the pil- 

 lar once more and alight in a new location. Sometimes this 

 performance was repeated over and over, until at length she 

 would come by chance upon the brick supporting the object 

 of her search. 



