174 



FIELD ZOOLOGY. 



the nest, making new brood cells and adding to the sup- 

 ports of the increasing nest. In each of these cells the 

 mother wasp lays an egg. Several broods of workers 

 are thus reared with the help of the young wasps which 

 act as nurses to the hatching larvs; ; and then comes a 



Fig. 71. — Nest of a, paper-wasp, Polisles, a; b, young larva; c, older larva; 

 d, pupa; e, adult. {All one and one- half times natural size, except nest, which 

 is much reduced. Kellogg.) 



brood of workers, males, and queens. The males live 

 long enough to fertilize the females and then die, leaving 

 the females to continue the species. 



The nests of the Vespina are placed in various situa- 

 tions, underground, under the eaves, on a tree branch, or 

 in some sheltered house corner. The potter wasps — the 

 Eumenidse — make nests of clay or mud and fasten them 

 to the branch of a tree. This is the family representing 

 the connecting link between the Sphecina and the Vespina, 



