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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
43
The
peculiar
feature
of
the
piling
of
stones
above
the
completed
burrow
was
not
a
mere
individual
accomplishment
of
my
wire-waisted
wasp.
On
several
occasions
since
I
have
observed
the
same
manoeuvre,
which
is
doubtless
the
regular
procedure
with
this
and
other
species.
The
smaller
orange-spotted
wasp
just
alluded
to
indicated
to
me
the
location
of
her
den
by
pausing
suggestively
in
front
of
a
tiny
cairn.
In
this
instance
a
small
flat
stone,
considerably
larger
than
the
tunnel,
had
been
laid
over
the
opening,
and
the
others
piled
upon
it.
On
two
occasions
I
have
surprised
this
same
species
of
wasp
industriously
engaged
in
the
selection
of
a
suitable
flat
foundation-stone
with
which
to
cover
her
burrow:
her
widely
extended
slender
jaws
enable
her
to
grasp
a
pebble
nearly
a
third
of
an
inch
in
width.
In
my
opening
vignette
I
have
indicated
two
other
door-step
neighbors
which
bore
my
industrious
wasps
company
in
their
arena
of
one
square
yard.
To
the
left,
surrounding
a
grass
stem,
will
be
seen
an
object
which
is
unpleasantly
familiar
to
most
country
folks--that
salivary
mass
variously
known
by
the
libellous
names
of
"snake-spit,"
"cow-spit,"
"cuckoo-spit,"
"toad-spit,"
and
"sheep-spit,"
or
the
inelegant
though
expressive
substitute
of
"gobs."
The
foam-bath
pavilion
of
the
"spume-bearer,"
with
his
glittering,
bubbly
domicile
of
suds,
is
certainly
familiar
to
most
of
my
readers;
but
comparatively
few,
I
find,
have
cared
to
investigate
the
mysterious
mass,
or
to
learn
the
identity
of
the
proprietor
of
the
foamy
lavatory.
The
common
name
of
"cow-spit,"
with
the
implied
indignity
to
our
"rural
divinity,"
becomes
singularly
ludicrous
when
we
observe
not
only
the
frequent
generous
display
of
the
suds
samples,
thousands
upon
thousands
in
a
single
small
meadow,
but
the
further
fact
that
each
mass
is
so
exactly
landed
upon
the
central
stalk
of
grass
or
other
plant--"spitted"
through
its
centre,
as
it
were.
The
true
expectorator
is
within,
laved
in
his
own
home-made
suds.
If
we
care
to
blow
or
scrape
off
the
bubbles,
we
readily
disclose
him---
a
green
speckled
bug,
about
a
third
of
an
inch
in
length
in
larger
specimens,
with
prominent
black
eyes,
and
blunt,
wedge-shaped
body.
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