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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
11
One
after
another
of
the
little
green
caterpillars
is
packed
into
the
bamboo
cell,
which
is
about
an
inch
deep,
and
plugged
with
mud
at
the
base.
From
seven
to
ten
of
the
victims
are
thus
stored,
after
which
the
little
wasp
deposits
an
egg
among
them,
and
seals
the
doorway
with
a
pellet
of
mud.
The
young
larva,
which
soon
hatches
from
this
egg,
finds
itself
in
a
land
of
plenty,
surrounded
with
living
food,
and,
being
born
hungry,
he
loses
no
time
in
making
a
meal
from
the
nearest
victim.
One
after
another
of
the
caterpillars
is
devoured,
until
his
larder,
nicely
calculated
to
carry
him
to
his
full
growth,
is
exhausted.
Thus
the
first
stage
is
passed.
The
second
stage
is
entered
into
within
a
few
hours,
and
is
passed
within
a
silken
cocoon,
with
which
the
white
grub
now
surrounds
itself,
and
with
which,
transformed
to
a
pupa,
it
bides
its
time
for
about
three
weeks,
as
I
now
recall,
when--third
stage--out
pops
the
mud
cork,
and
the
perfect
wasp
appears
at
the
opening
of
the
cell.
I
have
shown
sections
of
one
of
my
brushes
in
the
three
stages.
This
interesting
little
hornet
is
a
common
summer
species,
known
as
the
solitary
hornet--one
of
them--Odynerus
flavipes.
The
insect
is
about
a
half-inch
in
length,
and
to
the
careless
observer
might
suggest
a
yellow-jacket,
though
the
yellow
is
here
confined
to
two
triangular
spots
on
the
front
of
the
thorax
and
three
bands
upon
the
abdomen.
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