WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



17 



almost wholly by the female sex, which does 

 all the work of house-building, feeding and 

 caring for the babies, we are told by observers 

 that the male kind, which does no work, Is 

 not brought into existence until the last of 

 the season in the latest broods, and then only 

 that the race may be perpetuated. 



A couple of young female wasps of the 

 Polistes tribe visited the eaves of my cottage, 

 inspecting all the corners and other available 

 places for a location for a nest. At that time 

 I thought they represented the possible 

 foundation of two colonies, but I was in error, 

 as will be seen later. The following morning 

 I found one wasp employed in starting a nest. 

 The first work consisted of constructing the 

 "stem" by which the nest of cells are sus- 

 pended. That evening I saw but one wasp 

 there, which evidently had suspended opera- 

 tions for the day. About one-half of the stem 

 had been constructed. On the second day I 

 visited the scene of operations quite fre- 

 quently and never found more than one wasp 

 there and at no time was it away when I 

 called. By night the stem had been length- 

 ened about the required distance, when by 

 the position and quietness of the wasp I con- 

 cluded she had quit work as on the evening 

 previous. The next day I made frequent ob- 

 servations and found that before night the 

 base for the cells had been started. At no 

 time did I find the wasp absent, and I began 

 to wonder where the paper-like material came 

 from with which she was constructing the 

 domicile. By noon of the next day the base 

 had been enlarged and the beginning of three 

 cells were clearly outlined. I marveled still 

 more. Apparently the wasp had never left 

 the spot since she began the structure which 

 now contained as much material as would 

 make an object several times larger than the 

 wasp. Where did the building material come 

 from? .At noontime I found the answer. 

 While watching the lady busily employed on 

 the new home, another wasp suddenly flew 

 in and took a position near the nest, remain- 

 ing perfectly still. The wasp at work con- 

 tinued her operations for a few seconds and 

 then flew away, when the newcomer immedi- 

 ately stepped upon the job and proceeded with 

 the labor of increasing the cells. By night 

 the bases of five cells were completed, but 

 only one wasp remained with the work over 

 night. By these actions it was inferred that 

 two wasps at least were working in relays. 

 The absentee was gathering material for the 

 nest. 



From observations made in watching a rep- 

 resentative of the same species the year previ- 

 ous in Mendocino county, I found that egg- 

 laying was begun as soon as the base of the 

 cells reached the cup shape; therefore, as the 

 cells of this new nest were beginning to 

 assume that form I began to watch for the 

 appearance of eggs. The base of the sixth cell 

 was completed and a start made on the 

 seventh by the end of the following twenty- 

 four hours, but no eggs had been deposited. 

 On the fourth day of their operations the 

 wasps had the seventh cell base finished. The 

 cells were arranged so that one was in the 

 center and the other six were around it. 



On the fifth day the wasps did not seem to 

 be very busy, and so far as I could see made 

 no addition to their home, but that night both 

 wasps remained on the nest. The first thing 

 the next morning I did was to see what my 

 vespa friends were doing. Both wasps seemed 

 active, but I could not determine the nature 

 of their activities. No more cells had been 

 started, neither did they seem to be raising 

 the height of the six mentioned yesterday. 

 Finally, I concluded they were preparing to 

 lay eggs in the cell bases. The shadows were 

 such that I could not see whether eggs had 

 been deposited or not. After breakfast the 

 light was more favorable and I discovered an 

 egg to be seen in each of the cells, fastened 

 or glued to the bottom or a little to one side. 

 The mother wasps seemed to be quite proud 

 or solicitous over the event and were nerv- 

 ously walking over and peering into the cups 

 holding the precious morsels. I could not be 

 positive as to the exact time of the laying of 

 the eggs, but the event possibly accounts for 

 the peculiar actions of the wasps in suspend- 

 ing building operations the day before. 

 Neither could I tell whether one wasp laid all 

 the eggs or shared the responsibility with the 

 other wasp. 



Later in the day the base of an additional 

 or eighth cell was started, but neither of the 

 wasps showed the industry and close attention 

 to their labors they manifested during the 

 earlier stages of their undertaking. They 

 were both absent for considerable lengths of 

 time. 



The following morning I visited my wasps 

 for the last time, as it was the day of my de- 

 parture for home. They appeared to have sus- 

 pended work of adding cell bases and were 

 wholly engaged in increasing the length of 

 the first seven cells. Perhaps it was their 

 purpose to complete the cells for the embryo 

 wasps before starting the apartments for 

 another brood, but more probable that this 

 latter work was left for the employment of 

 the young wasps when they should emerge 

 from the cells now being completed. I re- 

 gretted I could not take the nest and builders 

 with me and continue to watch the progress 

 and growth of the family. 



Ed and I spent the greater part of one 

 afternoon on the desert making a special 

 effort to capture some giant carpenter bees, 

 insects that are larger than the largest 

 bumble bee. The female is jet black without 

 a mark of any other color, while the male is 

 orange yellow. They fly with almost the speed 

 of a bullet and unusually loud noise. We saw 

 one female and three male bees but made no 

 capture. These bees are called carpenter bees 

 from the fact that they bore or excavate 

 holes in dry wood for their nests. The holes 

 are round, about five-eighths of an inch in 

 diameter, and are sometimes found 12 inches 

 in depth. The bees do the boring with their 

 strong mandibles. 



The next day we were more successful, for 

 we succeeded in capturing two specimens of 

 the blacks, but did not see one of the yellow, 

 or male, bees, which we were so desirous of 

 obtaining. While we were trying to catch the 

 bees a man from a camping party located 



