312 



NATURE S TEACHINGS. 



globe is shaped exactly like the nest of our Eumenes, and, 

 when I first saw one, I could not remember why its shape was 

 so familiar to me. 



As is the case with the birds' nests which have been men- 

 tioned, the mud of which the walls are built is of a most tena- 

 cious character, and, when dried in the sun, can resist the 

 heaviest rain. The cells are intended as rearing-places for the 

 young, only a single egg being placed in each cell, which is 

 then stocked with small caterpillars by way of food. 



There is a South American insect also belonging to the 

 solitary wasps, and remarkable for building a round nest exactly 

 similar in material, and nearly identical in shape, with that of 



NESTS OF EUMENES. 



ANCIENT NECKED POTTERY. 



the Eumenes. Its scientific title is Trypoxylon aurifrons. The 

 nest of this insect has a much wider mouth than that of the 

 Eumenes, and exactly resembles the upper left-hand jar in 

 the illustration. 



Another South American solitary *wasp, belonging to the 

 genus Pelopoeus, makes nests of similar material, but nearly 

 cylindrical in shape instead of globular. The nest is built 

 up of successive rings of moistened and well-kneaded clay, 

 exactly as human houses are built by bricklayers. Indeed, 

 the process of making a Pelopoeus' nest has been happily com- 

 pared to that of building a circular chimney. 



I may as well mention here that the name Pelopoeus is 



