180 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



which we have already noticed in the case of certain ants, 

 a row of bees is formed, and the bits of moss passed from 

 one to another along the line. There is a long passage 

 to the nest, through which the moss has to be passed, and 

 it is said that at the mouth of the tunnel a guard is 

 stationed to drive away ants or other intruders. 



Wasps. These usually construct their nests of wood- 

 dust, which they scrape off the weather-worn surfaces of 

 boards, palings, &c., and work into a kind of paper with 

 their saliva. If they happen to find any real paper, they 

 perceive that it so much resembles the product of their 

 own manufacture that they utilise it forthwith. The 

 wasps do not require any special cells or chambers for the 

 storage of honey, as they do not lay up any supply for the 

 winter. The cells which they construct are therefore used 

 exclusively for the rearing of larvae. In form these cells 

 are sometimes cylindrical or globular, but more usually 

 hexagonal, like those of the hive-bee. Although the 

 mode of building is different from that employed by the 

 bees, there can be little doubt that if it were as care- 

 fully investigated Mr. Darwin's theory of transition from 

 the cylindrical to the hexagonal form would be found to 

 apply here also, seeing that both forms so frequently 

 occur in the same nest. 



The Mason-Wasp. The habits of this insect are de- 

 scribed by Mr. Bates. It constructs its nest of clay. Each 

 pellet that the insect brings it lays on the top of its nest- 

 wall, and then spreads it out with its jaws, and treads it 

 smooth with its feet. The nest, which is suspended on the 

 branch of a tree, is then stocked with spiders and insects 

 paralysed by stinging. The victims, not being wholly 

 deprived of life, keep fresh until required as food of the 

 developing larvae. 



The Butcher-Wasps. These also paralyse their prey 

 in a similar manner, and for a similar purpose. Fabre 

 removed from a so-called sphex-wasp a killed grass- 

 hopper, which it was conveying to its nest and had 

 momentarily laid down at the mouth of the burrow as 

 these insects always do on returning with prey, in order 

 to see that nothing has intruded into the burrow during 



