INJURIOUS INSECTS. 31 



Contrary to tKe buildings of man, they begin by forming the ceiling, of 

 roof, working downwards, and, notwithstanding the workmen employed, 

 there is no confusion or tumult, each has its duty to perform, which it 

 executes with the utmost regularity, and having deposited its load in the 

 proper position, it again sets off for fresh materials, until the whole i» 

 completed. One sheet of such thin material as this the Wasp is well 

 aware is not sufficient to prevent the earth from falling down into the 

 nest, accordingly she is not satisfied with her work until she has spread 

 fifteen or sixteen layers, one above another: these layers are not placed, or 

 glued together like a piece of pasteboard, but with small intervals between. 



I need hardly state that everybody has seen Wasps alight on the sashes 

 or wood-work of their windows, to the great terror of the fair sex, and 

 gnaw off the woody fibre with her mandibles; this, then, is the material 

 which she employs in constructing her dwelling. In fact. Wasps have 

 been paper-makers of the most perfect and intelligent kind from the 

 creation, while man was arriving by slow degrees at the art of fabricating 

 this valuable material,* for some nations carved their records on tablets 

 of stone, wood, and brass; others employed the inner bark of trees, andl 

 the skins of animals. Even the early attempts of the Egyptians at 

 paper-making were very rude, and the substance produced was almost 

 useless; yet the Wasp was manufacturing the very material before their 

 eyes, and by very much the same process as man now does, with the 

 aid of his complicated machinery and chemistry. Still the Wasp employs 

 the same instruments, and the same materials now as it did at the crea- 

 tion: her machinery is very simple, and never out of order. These 

 weapons, or tools, are two strong saw-like mandibles, playing one against 

 the other; and by means of which she excavates the subterraneous vault 

 in which she constructs her dwelling, as well as for cutting up fruit and 

 flesh — their food. a> 



It is quite astonishing to see the space they hollow out in order to 

 afford room for their nest; scarcely one issues from the ground without 

 a load of earth or a small stone. When heavy, they drop their load 

 near the entrance, which soon accumulates into a little heap; and which 

 often leads to the discovery of the nest; however, when such accidents 

 do not occur, the matter is moved to a considerable distance from the 

 mouth of the vault, so as to be no inconvenience at a future period. 

 Although the whole structure is built at the expense of so much labour 

 and ingenuity, it is scarcely finished before winter sets in, when all per- 

 ish, with the exception of a few benumbed females, who betake themselves 

 to their solitary winter quarters, to appear again in spring to fill the 

 land with pests. 



November, 1855. 



