VIII. TRYPOXYLON TEXENSE (SOUSS), A PET OP THE 
HOUSEHOLD. 
Several species of Trypoxylon have been admirably described by 
Mr. and Mrs. Peckham in their delightful book already frequently 
referred to. I would not presume to attempt to improve in any 
way on their account of this so well “domesticated” genus; yet I 
hope that the few new observations here presented on the Texas 
species may be of interest to the reader. 
The many scattered notes I have made on the doings of T. texense 
agree in essentials with the observations set forth in the work just 
cited. In disposition the southern species is also amiable and good 
* tempered and is most tolerant of the actions which curiosity prompts 
the observer to take, up to the point of destroying the nest itself. 
The male of texense , when present, remains faithfully on guard in 
the nest during the absence of the female. I have found a large 
proportion of the nests without males; in such cases the female 
went on with her household duties as well as when joined by her 
vespine consort. In one case a male remained alternately on guard 
in two contiguous nests; when both females returned at once the 
male exhibited more than the usual amount of excitement in spite 
of the fact that neither female paid any attention to him. On the 
presence of the male in the nest of these wasps I shall perhaps in a 
later paper have more to say, for I believe the subject worthy of 
further investigation. 
In the selection of a nidus texense exhibits the same habits as 
rubrocinctum , occupying almost any small crevices in wooden or 
stone walls. Beetle burrows in the cedar posts of log cabins along 
the Colorado River are nearly all occupied by T. texense. Fig. 23 
represents a pair of these wasps occupying a cell of an old mud- 
dauber’s nest. I have found it very convenient to attract the wasps 
by setting out for them blocks of wood with holes bored in them. 
The wasps will make use of borings one-half inch in diameter but 
prefer tubes of smaller calibre. It does not seem to make much 
difference whether the tube is horizontal or vertical, both condi- 
tions being acceptable. I have found several two-story nests in 
empty shot-gun shells standing upright. In these the partition 
and the plug were each in two layers, an inner of white and an 
outer of yellow clay, each layer being a millimeter in thickness.. 
