The Mason-Wasps 



The pottery of the Eumenes is of a 

 higher order : it favours a bulging cupola, 

 like that of the Turkish kiosk or the Mo- 

 scow basilica. At the summit of the dome 

 is a short opening, like the mouth of an 

 amphora, through which the caterpillars in- 

 tended for the larva's consumption are intro- 

 duced. When the larder is full and the egg 

 slung from the ceiling by a thread, the bell- 

 rnouthed neck of the cell is closed with a clay 

 stopper. 



As a rule, in these parts, E. Amadel 

 builds on a big pebble. She adorns her cu- 

 pola with angular bits of gravel, hajjf buried 

 in the plaster; on the stopper closing the 

 mouth she places a little flat stone, or even 

 a Snail-shell, selected from among the small- 

 est. The earthenware casemate, well-baked 

 by the sun, is supremely graceful. 



Well, this elegant structure is doomed to 

 disappear. Around her cupola the Eume- 

 nes builds others, using as walls what she 

 has already built. Henceforth the exact 

 circular form is no longer practicable. In 

 order to occupy the reentrant angles, the 

 new cells themselves become angular and 

 asstume an undecided, polyhedral form. 

 Only the edges of the mass and the top re- 

 tain traces of the regulation plan. The 

 224 



