When It Has Fixed Upon A Convenient Spot
For Its Dwelling, It Forms A Cell About The Same Length As
Its body,
plastering the walls so as to be quite thin and smooth inside.
When this is finished, all except
A round hole, it brings seven or eight
caterpillars or spiders, each of which is rendered insensible, but not killed,
by the fluid from its sting. These it deposits in the cell,
and then one of its own larvae, which, as it grows, finds food quite fresh.
The insects are in a state of coma, but the presence of vitality
prevents putridity, or that drying up which would otherwise take place
in this climate. By the time the young insect is full grown and its wings
completely developed, the food is done. It then pierces the wall of its cell
at the former door, or place last filled up by its parent,
flies off, and begins life for itself. The plasterer is a most useful insect,
as it acts as a check on the inordinate increase of caterpillars and spiders.
It may often be seen with a caterpillar or even a cricket much larger
than itself, but they lie perfectly still after the injection of chloroform,
and the plasterer, placing a row of legs on each side of the body,
uses both legs and wings in trailing the victim along.
The fluid in each case is, I suppose, designed to cause insensibility,
and likewise act as an antiseptic, the death of the victims
being without pain.
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