CHAPTER IV 



THE AGENI/E; THE PELOP^EUS' 

 VICTUALS 



JUDGING only by instincts and habits, 

 * a characteristic superior to all others, we 

 must rank not far below the builder whose 

 nest we have been considering certain other 

 Wasps of our country-side, Spider-hunters 

 like the first and, like her, worthy, or per- 

 haps even more worthy, of the title of 

 iLjAoTroios, a worker in clay or mud, a potter. 

 My district possesses two of these ceramic 

 artists: Agenia punctum, PANZ., and A. 

 hyalipennis, ZETTERSTEDT. 



With all their talent they are very frail 

 creatures, clad in black and hardly larger 

 than the ordinary Gnat. Their pottery 

 amazes us when we remember the feeble- 

 ness of the artisan. It surprises us even 

 more by its regularity, which may be com- 

 pared with the product of the turning-lathe. 

 Adhering broadly to a flat base and leaning 

 one against the other, the Pelopaeus' cells, 

 in the full elegance of the first phase, are 

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