72 INSECTS. 



alive but inactive till wanted, a wonderfully successful 

 way of providing her offspring with "fresh meat." 



3. Cells in which there is a larva feeding on the spiders. 



4. Cells in which the spiders have all been eaten (save 

 their skins, which are pushed to the bottom of the cell), and 

 in each of which there is a larva fully grown, or perhaps 

 transformed into a pupa, and lying quiescent within its 

 thin brown pupa skin. 



5. Other cells showing a gradual approximation to the 

 adult form. 



6. A cell from which an adult has just emerged, leav- 

 ing pupa skin and spider skins behind in the cell. 



If all these stages be not found in a single nest, several 

 nests should be examined. Is the metamorphosis of the 

 mud was^omplete, or incomplete ? 



THE PAPER WASP. 



The Nest consists of a single tier of gray, papery cells 

 opening downward, and attached above by a short stalk to 

 the eaves of a building, or to a fence, or to the horizontal 

 twig of a small bush. This description ought to be suf- 

 ficient for identifying so common an object. The adult 

 wasps are always found upon the nest. It is an easy mat- 

 ter to obtain the nest, not so easy to get all the wasps. 



Get a nest. It may be detached with a long pole. 

 When it falls, all the adult wasps leave it. Should it be 

 a large and heavy nest, located high above a hard surface, 

 some soft material, as straw, should be placed below it to 

 break its fall ; otherwise many of the cells will be injured. 



Study the nest. 



I. Construction. Note the size, shape, and position of 

 its cells, and the attachment of its stalk. Draw. 



II. Material. Examine with a lens the paper of its 

 cells. It is made from fibers of wood torn from boards 



