702 Wlarvels of the Universe 
and white (the black 
being tinged with dark 
slate colour and green), 
and both male and female 
have quaintly - curled 
crests, this adornment 
being a vivid crimson in 
the male and black in 
the female. The male is 
shghtly larger than the 
female. 
The Imperial Wood- 
pecker is still a native (in 
spite of constant perse- 
cution for its plumage) 
of Western Mexico, with 
a near relation—the 
Princely Woodpecker—in 
Texas and Florida. It 
is, of course, only found in 
the forest, and frequents 
mainly the great conifers 
(cypresses and pines) and 
the evergreen oaks in 
its search for the large 
grubs of beetles that are 
to be found in tunnels 
or crevices of the bark. 
The Ivory-billed Wood- 
peckers of the Southern 
United States and of Cuba 
[By Theo. Carreras, | Yesemble the . Imperial 
Woodpeckers in general 
THE NEST OF A MASON-WASP. 
The nest of another species of these Wasps is shown here. The chief difference is that 3 
the cells are situated in a group at the bottom of a long burrow which projects from the coloration, but are not 
surface of the bank in a sort of tube with jagged ends and a number of holes along its such big birds. 
sides. The grub-cells number three or four in a group. 
THE LIFE STORY OF A MASON-WASP 
BY JOHN J. WARD, F.E.S. 
THE Mason-Wasp is a Solitary Wasp, and differs entirely in its habits from the Social Wasps. 
Amongst the Solitary Wasps we find only perfect females and males ; for in their economy there 
is no room for the worker, or imperfect female. Both sexes appear together early in the summer, 
and their nest-building habits constitute some of the most astounding revelations of insect life. 
This particular group of insects has been given the name of Mason-Wasps to distinguish 
it from another group of insects called Sand-Wasps. They are smaller and darker-coloured than the 
common Ground Wasps, and the abdomen is spindle-shaped, tapering at both ends. They are 
marked with yellow, usually of a brighter tone than that of the common Wasp, but the black 
colour predominates. A technical characteristic which readily divides them from the Social Wasps, 
