158 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



study, and see what he could do toward raising 

 the orphans by hand. 



He soon realized that he had undertaken a 

 rather novel experiment. There were eggs 

 which would hatch every day or two for two 

 or three weeks, young larvae just hatched and 

 others in every stage of growth up to those 

 which were ready to spin their cocoons. 

 There were also a considerable number of 

 sealed cells containing pupae, but as yet none 

 of the young wasps had emerged. He began 

 to frequent the cabbage patch in search of cab- 

 bage and cutworms. Placing the unfortunate 

 worm on a board, he would cut it into bits with 

 a sharp knife and feed the bits to the larvae 

 with a grass stem as he had done when the 

 mother was still present. He found it possible 

 to feed the very young larvae as well as the 

 older ones, but they did not thrive. On the 

 1 8th of July the first cell opened and a young 

 wasp, a perfect picture of the missing mother, 

 emerged. The Naturalist now felt his hopes 

 rise high, for would not the newly matured 

 lady, mother her unfortunate sisters? He 

 could hardly wait to see. The nest was placed 

 on the porch of the study in order to give her 

 full opportunity to fly to the fields in search 



