A REMARKABLE WASP’S NEST IN MARYLAND. 679 
from two to five inches. Sixteen of these were attached in one 
group projecting from the side of the cavity, and towards their 
outer ends were bent into a blunt curve; resembling a colony of 
the tubes of Serpula. 
The nest, or, more properly, receptacle for the egg and young, 
is constructed in this manner. e adult Polistes flies to an adja- 
cent place where there is suitable wet clay, works this substance 
into an oval pellet and flies to the place where the building is to 
be made. The pellet is then laid obliquely and pressed down by 
the fore feet and head of the insect so as to cause it to adhere 
firmly to the surface on which it is building. This operation is 
repeated until it has formed a cylinder about one inch in length. 
As it proceeds, it smooths the inside of the cylinder by working 
with its jaws and pushing the front of its flat head against the 
plastic clay. The first section being thus finished to its satisfac- 
tion it flies off to secure small spiders. It seizes a spider with its 
fore feet, stings it in just such a way as to paralyze, without de- 
stroying its life, and then deposits it in the bottom of the cylinder. 
An egg is then laid beside the spider, and the wasp flies off to 
secure other spiders. This is continued until the cavity, which 
generally holds from twelve to fifteen of the smaller kinds, is full. 
The wasp then proceeds to cover the open end with a cap of the 
same material as before, after which it adds other sections to the 
number of three or four, filling each with spiders, and depositing 
one egg in each. The young larva feeds on these paralyzed spi- 
ders, and, as it seems, requires from twelve to fifteen of them to 
nourish it until it is ready to become a pupa. 
Unlike the species of Pelopzeus, which also. make clay nests, it 
does not nurse its young, but they are securely sealed up in the 
sections to feed themselves. When ready to come forth, the wasp 
gnaws a round hole in the wall of its cell, and flies forth as a per- 
fect insect. 
A similar, if not identical, species was very troublesome in Bal- 
timore during the early part of last summer. 
On the front walls of the Peabody Institute these wasps as- 
sembled in considerable numbers; and constructed their cells in 
the grooves of the joints of the marble. Their clay cylinders — 
were so numerous as to greatly disfigure the marble and render it 
necessary to have the front of the Institute cleaned. 
