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- 



