502 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



not last long, for when a female ant escapes, and founds an in- 

 fant colony, her wings are soon lost. Few do escape, as the birds 

 find these living clouds a most agreeable and plentiful repast. 



Ants do not, as has been so frequently said, lay up stores of 

 corn for the winter, for they are in a state of torpidity, during 

 the cold months, and require no food. Moreover, an ant would 

 find as much difficulty in eating or digesting a grain of corn as 

 we should in devouring a truss of straw. 



In each nest are three kinds of ants, males, females, and 

 neuters, or workers. 



Family, Vcspulre, (Lat. YcRpa, a Wasp.) 



Crabro (Lat. a Hornet), the Hornet. 

 Yulgaris (Lat. common), the Wasp. 



Let us honour the Wasps as the first paper-makers, for of 

 that material is the nest composed. The paper is rough and 

 coarse, certainly, but it is still paper. The Wasp, in order to 

 make this paper, rasps off fibres of decayed wood, which it 

 afterwards mashes with its teeth into a pulp, and then spreads 

 the pulp in layers, w r hen it hardens and forms coarse paper. 



The dreaded HORNET is usually found in woods, where it 



