Field Studies of the Non-Social Wasps 431 
tion was attracted to two large wasps which were behav- 
ing coquettishly; they were alternately coming together 
and separating. Closer inspection revealed that they 
were a male and a female 7. politum, the latter with a 
ball of mud in her mouth. A few inches away was the 
nest in its very early stages of construction; less than a 
dozen mouthfuls of mud had been applied to it. From 
this it is evident that at least the male arrives upon the 
Scene very early in the course of nest-building, if not be- 
fore its beginning. The nest was twelve inches from the 
ground, on a board wall. The male remained beside it, 
and waited to meet and greet his spouse when she re- 
turned with building materials, but each time she ener- 
getically repulsed him until he flew away. While he was 
gone she applied several layers of mud in this wise. She 
always went inside the little canopy, and with her head 
at the orifice applied her ball of mud in the center and 
Spread it downward on one side; this made half a ring. 
The next load was applied to the other side and com- 
pleted the ring. Thus each ball of mud made a section 
which, when dried, resembled in shape a rib from a chop. 
The ridges or rings can be clearly seen in fig. 61. The 
male returned several times to the spot but again de- 
parted, sometimes at the energetic suggestion of the fe- 
male. Whenever he had a chance on these visits, he 
would creep into the little shelter and wriggle about as 
if trying to see if it would fit him, and then scuttle off 
again when he found that it would cover only about half 
of his body. An excerpt from my notes, giving the de- 
tails of conduct for a short time, may be of value for 
comparison. 
“At 2:33, female adds ball of mud to nest, repulses at- 
tentions of male; 2:35, leaves, absent for half an hour; 
3:00, male comes and inspects nest and departs; 3:05, 
