cells finished but they were evenly made and smoothed off, 

 making those of her neighbor odious by comparison. The 

 differences were nearly as great and reminded me of the 

 shacks and mansions often seen near together in the 

 southern states. Of course this comparison is hardly a 

 just one for the mansion required capital and the shack 

 did not, while both wasps had the very same material to 

 work with. The only difference seemed to be in the taste, 

 the skill or intelligence of the two individuals. 



Now let us look into the spider question. How and why 

 did the wasps get them? I do not know where these par- 

 ticular wasps mentioned above secured their prey but I 

 have seen other of the same species in the act. Most people 

 have an inborn horror of spiders so that it is almost im- 

 possible for them to see the good points or beauties of 

 some of them. There are ugly spiders and there are spid- 

 ers that look ugly but there are also spiders that are pretty. 

 It is one of the pretty field spiders, the black and yellow 

 Argiope, that the mud daubers like best. 



An Argiope spider had its web-trap set near the ground 

 among some cinquefoil vines. When I discovered it, it was 

 repairing a large hole in the web, made by an insect stronger 

 than its silken meshes could restrain. A mud-dauber land- 

 ed on a leaf near the web apparently to rest herself, for 

 she remained still except for an occasional nervous flirting 

 of the wings common to all wasps and hornets. 



Wasps appear to be near-sighted or have poor vision 

 for it seems to be difficult for them to distinguish motion- 

 less objects. The spider was quiet for a minute or two 

 after the new arrival, then re-commenced work. The vel- 

 vety-black and yellow body of the working spider soon at- 

 tracted the attention of the wasp and she dashed quickly 

 at it. A spider is usually very agile but this one could not 

 avoid the sudden attack. The wasp landed on its back and 

 stung it probably before it was aware of danger. Wasp 

 and spider tumbled to the ground but the only movement 

 shown by the latter was a convulsive twitching of the legs. 

 The wasp sting evidently carries a very powerful anaes- 



