520 THE COMMON WASP. 



ish form, ai^d is twelve or fourteen inclies in diameter. It is strongly 

 fortified all round witli walls, in layers, formed of a substance some- 

 vrhat like paper, the surface of which is rough and irregular. In these 

 walls, or rather in this external covering, two holes are left for 

 passages to the combs, one of which is uniformly adopted for entrance, 

 and the other as a passage out. The interior of the nest consists of 

 several stories, or floors of combs, which are parallel to each other, 

 and nearly in an horizontal position. Every story is composed of ai 

 Dumerous assemblage of hexagonal cells. These ^.ontain neither wax 

 nor honey, but are solely destined for containing the eggs, the worms 

 which are hatched from them, the chrysalids, and the young Wasps 

 until they are able to fly. The. combs are from eleven to twelve in 

 number. Reaumur computed the number of cells in the combs of a 

 middle-sized nest to be at least ten thousand ; and as every cell serves 

 for three generations, a nest of this description would annually give 

 birth to thirty thousand Wasps. 



The different stories of combs are always about half an inch distant. 

 By this arrangement, free passages are left to the Wasps from one part 

 of the nest to another. Each of the larger combs is supported by about 

 fifty pillars, which at the same time that they give solidity to the 

 fabric, greatly ornament the vnhole nest. The lesser combs are sup- 

 ported by a similar contrivance. The Wasps always begin at the top 

 and work downward. 



In the republic of Wasps, like that of Bees, there are three different 

 kinds of flies; males, females, and neuters. The greatest share of 

 labor devolves upon the neuters : but they are not, like the neuter 

 bees, the only workers ; for there is no part of the different operations 

 which the females, at certain times, do not execute. Nor dw the males 

 remain entirely idle. The neuters, however, build the nest, feed the 

 males, the females, and even the young-ones. But, while these are 

 occupied in different employments at home, the others are abroad in 

 hunting-parties. Some of them attack with intrepidity live insects, 

 'vhich they sometimes carry entire to the nest ; but if these be at all 

 large they transport only the abdomen. Others make war on the 

 bees, killing them for the honey they have in their bodies, or plunder- 

 ing their hives for the fruits of their labor. Some resort to the 

 gardens, and suck the juices of fruit ; and others pillage butchers' stalls;, 

 from which they often arrive with a piece of meat larger than even 

 half of their own bodies. 



When they return to their nest, they distribute a portion of their 

 plunder to the females, to the males, and to such neuters as have been 

 usefully occupied at home. As soon as a neuter enters the nest, it is 

 surrounded by several Wasps, to each of which it freely gives a por 

 tion of the food it has brought. Those that have not been hunting 

 for prey but have been sucking the juices of fruits, though they seem 

 to return empty, fail not to regale their companions; for, after iheii 

 arrival, they station themselves at the upper part of the nest, and dia 

 charge from their mouths two or three drops of clear liquid, which aie 

 immediately swallowe-l by the domestics. 



The neuter Wasps are the smallest, the females are much larger and 



