150 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



Although the Naturalist spent much time 

 with the wasps nearly every day, it was a long 

 time before he saw Mother Paper-maker in 

 the act of laying her egg. When the weather 

 was nice she laid an egg nearly every day, as 

 he knew by watching carefully the cells which 

 were empty the day before. In cool weather 

 she would sometimes miss a day or even two or 

 three, if it did not warm up during a part of 

 the day. The Naturalist would make careful 

 note of every empty cell daily and watch to see 

 when eggs were laid. She laid on the nth 

 and 1 2th, then again on the i4th and i^th. 

 Only one more egg was then laid until the 

 aoth. Apparently, these wasps are very sensi- 

 tive to weather conditions. 



After many days of waiting the Naturalist 

 finally decided that the eggs were laid in the 

 morning between eight and eleven o'clock. 

 Finally, on the last day of June, he decided 

 that he must witness the act of depositing the 

 egg in the cell. He had an engagement in a 

 distant city and felt that he could not be con- 

 tent to go until his curiosity had been satisfied. 

 Accordingly, he took up his watch soon after 

 eight o'clock and waited. The mother wasp 

 was rather sluggish, and there was little action 



