on 
17 
male seeking a nesting site had chanced upon and welcomed this 
unfinished structure and was building it up. The two figures 
will serve to illustrate the growth of such a nest. The material 
used makes a more delicate nest than those of Vespa or Polistes. 
The basal portion of the nest forms the bottom of all the cells as 
well as the two outer sides of all peripheral cells, all being pretty 
hexagonal. Where two outer sides of the same cell meet, a 
sharp ridge or carina is formed, which is continued to near the 
tip of the nest, the walls of the main nest being simply extended 
down from these cells and drawn into a neck of filagree work 
and ending finally into an aperture with one of its sides formed 
into a spear-shaped extension. 
I found two incomplete and deserted nests, both in the 
shelter of banks; another in the course of construction was 
well up the side of a ravine, 
where it was suspended from a 
thread of horsehair fungus and 
imperfectly protected from the 
weather in being under a mix- 
ture of fallen leav es, twigs, etc. 
a doubtful shelter at best. I 
located this nest first by follow- 
ing the wasp’s flight and then by 
stumbling upon her domicile in 
the underbrush. This was on 
September 3, but I had previous- 
ly noted this (?) wasp (identi- 
fied by the direction and path of 
luz onensis, with only the basal her flight ) in company with One 
portion made. Viewed from be- OF two other females (which 
neath, X 1. flew in other directions) on July 
26, gathering nest material from 
the trunk of a fallen tree which lay in the bed of a ravine. Here 
in a small forest opening were quite a number of males of this 
species. The nest up the slope was only a few inches above 
ground and about two-thirds built. But it was well hidden, as 
must needs be to escape the piracy of the large Vespa deusta. 
On September 6, after some heavy rains, I visited this nest again, 
to find it in a more unfinished state than on September 3, it 
having probably suffered as a result of the precipitation. On 
September 10, the nest was about three-fourths done, and on the 
16th, it was completed, at least exteriorly. 
The male wasp has the habit of alighting again and again on 
the same leaf, carefully approaching this rest by a succession of 
jerky, pausing advances. He appears to be extremely nervous 


Fig. 106. Nest of S. micans var. « 
12 
