MASONS 79 



namely, they carry off the clay in their mandibles, 

 and have a different song when they hasten away 

 with the burthen from that which they sing whilst 

 at work, ^rypoxylon albitarse, which is a large 

 black kind, three-quarters of an inch in length, 

 makes a tremendous fuss whilst building its cell. 

 It often chooses the walls or doors of chambers for 

 this purpose, and when two or three are at work 

 in the same place their loud humming keeps the 

 place in an uproar. T. aurifrons, a much smaller 

 species, makes a neat little nest shaped like a carafe ; 

 building rows of them together in the corners of 

 the verandahs." 



In Hawaii several species of Odynerus construct 

 single-celled nests similar to those of Eumenes, but 

 more cylindrical than spherical. They are fond of 

 making these in a leaf that has been curled up 

 already by a spider to serve as a nursery for her 

 young ones, and in addition the young of a certain 

 species of snail {Achatinella) like to crowd into the 

 same refuge ; so that, as Mr. R. C. L. Perkins tells 

 us, you may find a curled leaf occupied by these 

 three kinds of tenants at the same time. 



Mr. Bates tells us how another Mason Wasp 

 utilizes the same clay-pit at Santarem, on the 

 Amazon, from which the human inhabitants obtain 

 clay for making their pottery. 



" The most conspicuous was a large yellow-and- 

 black wasp, with a remarkably long and narrow 

 waist, the Pelopceus fistularis. It collected the clay 

 in little round pellets, which it carried off, after 



