102 EVE SPY 



single wasp will have to admit that he earns his 

 living, for it is not every fly that is caught nap- 

 ping, and that white face, with its eager, open jaws, 

 must needs butt itself against the shingle many 

 times before its quest is satisfied. 



But the warlike hornet does not always content 

 himself with such small game as a house-fly. Big 

 bluebottle-flies are a frequent prey, and juicy cat- 

 erpillars are a welcome variety in his daily diet. 

 Even the butterfly, with a body nearly as large as 

 his own, falls a frequent victim, the scimitar-like 

 jaws severing the painted wings in a twinkling, 

 either during flight, or falling one by one from its 

 dangling retreat. 



The life of the black hornet, or wasp, may be 

 briefly summed up. The females survive the win- 

 ter, and in spring build a tiny comb of papery 

 material composed of saliva and timber scraped 

 from old gray boards and fence rails. In each 

 cell of the comb an egg is laid, which soon hatches 

 into a minute white grub, the sides of the cells 

 being continued to accommodate its growth, the 

 comb being gradually inclosed in the paper cover- 

 in 2^ and enlaro^ed as the nest cells are increased. 

 The grub at maturity incases itself within its 

 cell by closing the orifice with a silken veil, and 

 soon turns to a chrysalis, and in a few days 

 emerges as a perfect wasp. Several broods are 

 reared in a season, the combs being extended in 



