1414 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



A POTTER WASP UPON HER NEST 



The cells, from two to Ave in number, are fastened 



to blades of razor grass. 



sity exposes the precious inmates to the two 

 dangers that are sometimes impossible to com- 

 bat; ants and mould. 



I have a wasp incubator which is a four- 

 legged affair, standing in as many tins o£ oil, 

 but despite all my care and a dozen daily in- 

 spections, a minute species of carnivorous ant 

 finds its way to my precious charges, and often 

 in my absence lays waste in a few moments the 

 labor of days, or destroys some wasplet that I 

 have spent hours finding and trying to rear. 



With mould, it is the same story. One cannot 

 combat such enemies except with patience. It is 



A COLLECTOR OF RESIN 



Freshly emerged from the cocoon 



Four times natural size. 



trying when one has nearly completed a history, 

 to be set back forty or fifty days by a single act 

 of vegetable or insect vandalism ! 



The life cycle of a single insect, however, 

 photographed and successfully traced from one 

 generation to the next, repays one for all the 

 time expended, and trouble, and the disappoint- 

 ments that may be met with. Above all, there 

 is a feeling of satisfaction in the knowledge that 

 you are doubtless the first to unfold its life 

 story, not only to those who study the insect 

 world, but to many who have never realized ihe 

 wonders that lie therein. 



TUl 



WONDERS TAKE PLACE WITHIN THE NESTS 

 There one may watch the minute, ivory-colored eggs change to tender insects. 



