98 WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



gives no consideration to the sheltering or feeding of 

 his family. On the other hand, many insect mothers 

 wear themselves out in unselfish toil in caring for their 

 young. Both of our lady masons ply their trade solely 

 for the housing of their offspring. 



The Cement Maker is well named. We find her in 

 early summer very busy at the edges of pools and in 

 other damp places collecting mud ; this she mixes with 

 saliva into a strong mortar by means of her trowel 

 jaws. This mortar she uses to build the mud houses, 

 with which we who dwell in country places are so 

 familiar. They are constructed beneath the rafters and 

 roof boards of barns and sheds, or any building where 

 the wasp can gain access, and consist of two or more 

 parallel tubes about an inch long. On the inside the 

 tubes are smooth and regular, but the outside of the 

 structure is rough and rude, with no architectural 

 pretensions. That this wasp knows how to make a 

 very adhesive cement those of us can attest who have 

 tried to remove all traces of one of her dwellings. She 

 is in the habit of consulting her own convenience rather 

 than ours in choosing sites for her houses. One year 

 she or one of her relatives plastered up all the keyholes 

 in one of our bureaus so effectually that the locks were 

 afterward useless. Another utilized a sand hole in the 

 side of a flat-iron, little dreaming what would happen 



