THE NATURALIST IN HIS VERANDAH. 27 



another, a drop of honey, I planned a crime. I said I 

 loved animals, so I do. I am not inconsistent. Wasps 

 are excellent things, but like other excellent things one can 

 have too much of them. Again, like some good things, 

 they are seen to best advantage at a distance. Accord- 

 ingly, I waited until the mother, having exhausted her 

 stock of honey, flew away to obtain more ; then I hastily 

 folded up a newspaper, jumped up on a chair, and with the 

 paper knocked the nest on to the ground. To snatch up the 

 fallen nest and carry it into the bungalow was the work of 

 an instant. The fell deed was rapidly executed. I did not 

 waste time, because I was most anxious to put the chik 

 between myself and the irate mother, and I knew she might 

 return at any moment. Once inside, I could examine at 

 leisure my prize. It was the size of a large walnut, and very 

 light. It contained seventeen chambers, arranged round 

 a central pillar of papery substance. Seven of the cells con- 

 tained larvas ; these were all in the earlier-formed cells 

 those nearest the central columns. Some of the ante-cham- 

 bers contained unhatched eggs, while others were still 

 empty, an egg not having yet been deposited in them. The 

 largest of the larvae was about three-quarters of an inch 

 long. The wasp larva is a yellow sausage-shaped creature, 

 tapering off towards the extremities. Its soft body is ring- 

 ed like that of a worm. At the front end, which is dark in 

 colour, is the mouth. The grub hangs mouth downwards 

 from the roof of its chamber. In this case one of the grubs 

 was just about to undergo metamorphosis, and had the nest 

 not been disturbed, would, in a few days, have emerged as 

 a worker-wasp, and at once set to work to help its mother. 

 Alas ! this was not to be ; cruel fate caused me to cut off 

 seven most promising wasp grubs on the very threshold 

 of their career. 



On my verandah stand a row of flower-pots, which pots, 

 I regret to state, contain inhabitants other than the plants 

 for which they were designed. Thus every carnation 

 plant is preyed upon by at least one caterpillar, and 



