. Insect architecture. Insects. MASON-WAS Mttnrlibtt;*—Taws of Mason-IVatp.—Greatly magnified. a piece usually about the bigness of a mustard-seed. It might have been supposed that these fragments would have been tossed out of the hole as the work proceeded, without further concern; as the mole tosses above ground the earth which has been cleared out of its subterranean gallery. The wasp was of a different opinion ; for it was possible that a heap of brick chips, at the bottom of the wall, might lead to the discovery of her nest by some of her enemies, particularly by one or other of the
. Insect architecture. Insects. MASON-WAS Mttnrlibtt;*—Taws of Mason-IVatp.—Greatly magnified. a piece usually about the bigness of a mustard-seed. It might have been supposed that these fragments would have been tossed out of the hole as the work proceeded, without further concern; as the mole tosses above ground the earth which has been cleared out of its subterranean gallery. The wasp was of a different opinion ; for it was possible that a heap of brick chips, at the bottom of the wall, might lead to the discovery of her nest by some of her enemies, particularly by one or other of the numerous tribe of what are called tcAneumon-flies. This name is given to them, from the similarity of 'their habit of destroying eggs to that of the little animal which proves so formidable an enemy to the multiplication of the crocodile of Egypt. They may be also denominated cuckoo-ities, because, like that bird, they thrust their egg into the nest of another species. These flies are continually prowling about and prying into every corner, to find, by stealth, a nidus for their eggs. It might have been some such consideration as this which induced the wasp to carry off the fragments as they were successively detached. That concealment was the motive, indeed, was proved; for one of the fragments which fell out of the hole by. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rennie, James, 1787-1867. London, M. A. Nattali
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1846
