392 



ANIMAL LIFE-HISTORIES 



disabled or killed by stinging. Of Solitary Wasps [Etrnzenido') 

 we possess reliable information gained by the observations of 

 Fabre. In one species {Odynerus reniformis, fig. 914) the nest 

 is a little burrow at the end of which the &^<g is hung up by 

 a thread. The female wasp next hunts for a small kind of 

 caterpillar which rolls itself up when attacked, and, selecting 

 an individual of suitable dimensions, packs it in the burrow near 

 the ^'g'g, probably stinging it first to produce paralysis. A series 

 of twenty or more caterpillars is thus packed away, the members 

 of which are destined to be eaten in regular succession. The just- 

 hatched larva remains hanging by its 

 thread to devour the first (and weakest) 

 caterpillar, and then descends into the 

 little space at the end of the burrow, 

 after which it polishes off the remain- 

 ing victims, one after the other. It 

 is suggested that in this and other 

 instances the members of the living 

 larder do not suffer any pain, being 

 stupefied by the stinging process, but 

 this is by no means certain. 



Fabre describes Solitary Wasps 

 (species of Eztmenes, fig. 914) of even 

 greater interest, in which the female 

 makes a little dome-shaped nest of mud 

 and tiny stones, from the roof of which 

 the (i.'g'g is suspended as before, while a wriggling mass of stupefied 

 caterpillars occupies the lower part. The minute larva is at first 

 able to feed without quitting the egg-shell, and later on this splits 

 into a spiral strip which, by augmenting the length of the thread, 

 enables the occupant of the cell to get at the diminishing store of 

 victims, so that it can make a further series of meals without 

 running the risk of being squeezed or bitten to death. Ultimately 

 the larva grows sufficiendy big and strong to descend among its 

 victims with safety, and this happens just at the time when it can 

 no longer reach the diminishing heap of food from its thread. 



The exceedingly numerous and widely distributed insects 

 known as Solitary Digging- Wasps {Fossores), and which strictly 

 speaking are not wasps at all, provide for the well-being of their 

 young in a similar manner to that described for the last two cases. 



Fig. 914. — Nests of Solitary Wasps, in section 



a, Suspended egg of Wasp ; b, caterpillars 

 stored as food for the larva:, a, Subterranean 

 nest of Odyneriis reniformis. b, Dome-shaped 

 nest of Eiunenes arbicstontui. 



