SPIDERS AND WASPS. 101 



the work progresses slowly ; only two or three cells are 

 completed when the first worker emerges. And now 

 the work goes on more rapidly. The foundations of 

 other cells are at once made, in each of which the 

 queen places an egg, which develops rapidly, and soon 

 the mature wasps appear, and join their mother and 

 sisters in the work, until the colony — in the genus 

 Polistes — often numhers a hundred or more indi- 

 viduals. 



A small earthen wren-house had been fastened under 

 the eaves of a building to accommodate the birds. I 

 had often noticed a pair of wrens chattering and scold- 

 ing and peering in at the door, but never venturing 

 within. Wishing to learn the cause of their behavior, 

 I mounted a step-ladder and looked in. I found that 

 the rust-red social wasp {Polistes ruhiginosus) had se- 

 lected this novel place to build in, much to the chagrin 

 of the birds, which were evidently afraid to venture 

 within. 



In the autumn, after the wasps were gone, I investi- 

 gated their work, and found this had been their home 

 for five years. Four large clusters of cells were sus- 

 pended from above. This species attaches its nest from 

 a central point, unlike the first-mentioned species. These 

 four nests just about filled the space ; the one last made 

 was somewhat crowded and irregularly built, no space 

 being left for future progeny. 



In the spring a queen returned to the ancestral hall, 



