' AMONG THE TOILERS 205 



is then sealed up. After a while the egg hatches 

 into a grub, which devours his fellow-prisoners 

 and, having finished them, changes into a chry 

 salis and finally into a wasp. 



While toiling so busily, the wasp is of course 

 subject to the ordinary accidents of insect life. 

 A bird may snap her up from the path where she 

 digs ; and when seeking grubs she may die less 

 quickly in the meshes of a spider ; or a swallow 

 may overtake her in flight. Then would the 

 little house remain unfinished, to be ruined by 

 a storm. 



And she has other enemies. I found a nest of 

 this wasp on a house in which I lived. The 

 young duly emerged ; and one of them continued 

 the occupation of the nest for another season, 

 while another one commenced a fresh abode not 

 far off. The labours were duly completed, and 

 the groups of cells sealed up securely. They 

 withstood many storms, and no doubt all would 

 have ended happily for the insects, had not the 

 house-cleaners arrived and made sweeping changes. 

 One of them afterwards told me that he had 

 found some patches of dry mud in the angle of a 



