The Mason-Wasps 



below, convex above and of a lustrous 

 white, these dots resemble very neat drops 

 from a tallow candle. Lastly, their backs 

 are streaked with faint transversal lines, an 

 elegant detail perceptible only with the lens. 

 These curious objects are scattered all over 

 the surface of the wrapper, sometimes at a 

 distance from one another, sometimes gath- 

 ered into more or less dense groups. They 

 are the eggs of the Volucella, or Bumble-bee 

 Fly (V . zonaria, LIN). 



Also stuck to the brown paper of the outer 

 envelope and mixed up with the Volucella's 

 are a large number of other eggs, chalk- 

 white, spear-shaped and ridged lengthwise 

 with seven or eight thin ribs, after the man- 

 ner of the seeds of certain Umbelliferae. 

 The finishing touch to their delicate beauty 

 is the fine stippling all over the surface. 

 They are smaller by half than the others. I 

 have seen grubs come out of them which 

 might easily be the earliest stage of some 

 pointed maggots which I have already no- 

 ticed in the burrows. My attempts to rear 

 them failed; and I am not able to say to 

 which Fly these eggs belong. Enough for us 

 to note the nameless one in passing. There 

 are plenty of others, which we must make up 

 our minds to leave unlabelled, in view of the 

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