THE LIFE OF A SOLITARY WASP 211 
A lady wasp of this species came, a little over a 
month ago, into a bedroom through an open window 
and began at once to look about her for a suitable site 
for her nest. Her attention was soon attracted by a 
wooden bed. In this she found some ideal nesting- 
places—the holes in the upright posts intended to 
receive the poles for mosquito curtains. Having 
elected to nest in these six-inch-deep cavities, the wasp 
promptly set to work to prepare them for her eggs. 
She flew out of the window, to return in a few 
minutes, carrying between her front legs a pellet of 
mud, fully half the size of her body. She herself had 
prepared this pellet by means of her jaws and saliva 
out of dust collected on the roadside. She flew with 
it into the cavity, and proceeded to line it with mud. 
Having utilized her load, the industrious insect flew 
off and returned with a second load, and a third, and 
a fourth. 
In a short time she had lined the hole, and the mud 
soon set as hard as mortar. I believe that directly the 
nest is lined the wasp lays an egg in it, but of this I 
cannot be sure, for it is impossible to see what is going 
on at the bottom of a hole six inches deep and less 
than an inch wide. It is therefore possible that the egg 
was laid at a later stage in the proceedings. The nest 
has now to be provisioned, for when the grub emerges 
from the egg in its underground cell it will need food. 
Accordingly the wasp mother goes forth to seek pro- 
vender for her offspring upon which she will in all 
probability never set eyes. Consider for a moment 
the significance of this. We have, here, an insect toil- 
