84 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



out of open windows and doors, all day long, all 

 the summer through, comes the busy, beautiful 

 Mason Wasp. A long body, wonderfully slim at 

 the waist, bright yellow legs and thorax, and a dark 

 crimson abdomen what object can be prettier to 

 look at ? 



" But in her life this wasp is not beautiful. At 

 home in summer they were the pests of my life, 

 for nothing would serve to keep them out. . One 

 day while we were seated at dinner, a clay nest, 

 which a wasp had succeeded in completing un- 

 observed, detached itself from the ceiling and fell 

 with a crash to the table, where it was shattered 

 to pieces, scattering a shower of green half -living 

 spiders round it. I shall never forget the feeling of 

 intense repugnance I experienced at the sight, 

 coupled with detestation of the pretty but cruel 

 little architect." 



In some cases a Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga) has noted 

 the stores of spiders and insects being taken in, 

 and has concluded, that they offer a good oppor- 

 tunity for the disposal of a few of her own eggs. 

 The result is that the Mud-dauber grub perishes 

 for want of food, and a like fate awaits the Flesh 

 Flies owing to their inability to break through the 

 thick walls of their prison. 



Very similar to the constructions of these " Mud- 

 dauber " Mason Wasps are those of an Indian bee 

 (Megachile lanata), closely allied to our Leaf -cutter 

 Bee (M. centuncularis), and strange to say it agrees 

 with these wasps also in its liking for human dwell- 



