ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1413 



TINY BARRELS HOOPED WITH MOSS 

 These are fastened to air roots. 



variety of materials. Among these insects of 

 Guiana, architecture has indeed reached perfec- 

 tion. One marvels at the beauty of their crea- 

 tions, and at the strength and fortitude of the 

 delicate creatures accomplishing such tasks. 



One nest is a group of five perfect cells of 

 yellow clay. Each cell is covered by a dome of 

 the same material as thin as paper, with the 

 convex of one fitting into the concave of the 

 next, like a pile of inverted bowls. 



It is constructed by a solitary wasp that looks 

 unequal to the task. She places it on the under 

 side of the mid-rib of a forest leaf, so that it 

 is completely hidden, unless one searches care- 

 fully. 



Another builds a series of earthen jugs, each 

 a cradle for a tiny creature that will one daj^ 

 become a wasp. Still others make cells of 

 sweet-smelling resin from injured forest trees, 

 or construct tiny barrels hooped with moss and 

 fasten them to slender air roots. 



Greater wonders take place within the nests. 

 There one watches minute, ivory-colored eggs 

 ^ive birth to tender insects, sees them feed and 



grow from day to daj'^ through varied stages, 

 finally to cocoon and become perfect insects like 

 their 2oarent. 



It is impossible to condense the life of these 

 complicated creatures into a few lines or para- 

 graphs. I can but touch the subject here and 

 there. In Guiana the number of nesting species 

 appears to be governed by the amount of rain- 

 fall. In February, I found but five species at 

 work ; and the rainfall for that month totaled 

 1.89 inches. As the season advanced and the 

 rainfall grew heavier, more and more species 

 were observed, so that by the end of May, a 

 month in which we had over fifteen inches of 

 rain, I found forty different forms of bees and 

 wasps at work. 



In working out these life histories, I have 

 encountered many difficulties that one does not 

 find in the north. It is necessary, in order to 

 make accurate observations at any hour of the 

 day, to open the different nests and place their 

 contents in test tubes or vials where they will 

 be at hand at the proper moment. This neces- 



A NEST OF FIVE PERFECT CELLS OF CLAY 



Architecture has attained perfection among the insects 

 of Guiana. 



