Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/535

1913.] ways so found, but often are attached singly to twigs.

These little jugs are made of wet clay which the parent wasp gathers for the purpose, and, when thoroughly dry, are hard and enduring. When a jug is finished, it is filled with small spiders or caterpillars, that are first made dormant by the sting of the wasp, but not killed, and in each jug an egg is laid, after which the opening is sealed with a little clay cork.

In a few days, the egg hatches, making a small grub with a big appetite which it at once begins to satisfy with the dormant spiders. The feast continues for about two weeks, when the grub, now grown to a good size, spins a cocoon, and in this state remains for perhaps a few weeks, after which it changes to a full-fledged wasp, and, being no longer content in its confined quarters, it deliberately pushes out the little clay plug that has closed the jug, and goes into the world to take up its work in the great realm of nature. And the little jugs are left deserted and empty.

our natural eyes had the power to greatly magnify the tiny creatures about us without the aid of microscopes, a new and entrancing world would open to our vision. Brilliant colors, exquisite delicacy, and wonderful forms are revealed when some of our very small insects are magnified. They call forth expressions of delight and amazement from every one whose attention is directed to them.

Methods of photographing these tiny forms many times their original size are now practised, and there are many treats in store for those young naturalists who wish to engage in this most interesting pastime.

By using special photographic lenses, beautifully accurate enlargements, many times the size of the original, can be obtained.

The accompanying pictures of some tiny, one of them like an exquisite fairy fan, reveal what beauty may be seen in insects slightly more than half an inch in the spread of their wings.