The Hunting Wasps 



of the cocoon. With this exception, every- 

 thing is white, or faintly tinged with yellow. 

 Far be it from me to suggest that the larva 

 plasters its cocoon with its excreta; and yet I 

 am convinced that this plaster is a product of 

 the digestive organs and I suspect, though I 

 cannot say for certain having been clumsy 

 enough several times to miss a favourable 

 opportunity of making sure that the larva 

 disgorges and applies with its mouth the 

 quintessence of the purple pulp from its 

 stomach in order to form the shellac glaze. 

 Only after this last performance would it 

 reject its digestive residuum in a single lump; 

 and this would explain the unpleasant neces- 

 sity in which the larva finds itself of making 

 room for its excreta inside its actual habita- 

 tion. 



Be this as it may, there can be no doubt 

 about the usefulness of the coating of shellac; 

 its complete impermeability must protect the 

 larva against the damp which would certainly 

 attack it in the precarious refuge dug for it 

 by the mother. Remember that the larva is 

 buried only a few inches down in uncovered, 

 sandy ground. To judge to what extent the 

 cocoons thus varnished are able to resist the 

 damp, I kept some steeped in water for 

 104 



