MUD-WASP, or MUD-DAUBER. Any one of a group of wasps belonging to the old genus Pe lop:eus. now Seeliphron. They build nests of mud in sheltered places, choo.ing the cracks of a barn or fence or some sheltered place under the eaves of any wooden building. entering also dis used rooms in houses, and sometimes even rooms that are in daily use. The nests consist of a varying number of mud cells placed side by side, usually in a single row, but sometimes in several rows. The cells before completion are packed with a food supply for the future young, and this consists almost invariably of spiders, as many spiders tieing placed in one all as the cell will hold. A single egg is laid upon the last spider which has been placed in the cell, and the larva hatching from the egg eats rapidly. con suming the abdomens of the spielers first and subsequently the remainder of their laxlies. All of the spiders which have been placed in the cell have been stung and paralyzed by the parent wasp, hut many of them are not really dead when the larva reaches them. After the egg is laid and
the nest is closed up, new cells are constructed by the same female. The mud or (day with which the nests are constructed is brought in little balls by the aid of the wasp's mandibles. and 2n or more visits are required to complete one cell: so that for the construction of a largo nest of 5h cells about 1000 visits must be made by Ow insect. The larva reaches full growth in a short time. usually ten or two weeks, and 1.(rins. a cocoon within the mud cell. the winter being passed in the cocoon. although there may be two er more summer generations, in which ease t he summer pupal period is short. The group is a l:r•ge one, and mud wasps are common not. only in Ai:writ•a and in Europe. but in India and Australia. Consult: Fabre. Insert Life (London.
DOI Sharp, rambridge Natural History. vol.
Iloward. The I nseei Bonk New York• 1902). See also the article IVAse and its bibliography.