PuicAui).] THE SOCIAL LIFE OF INSECTS. 343 



liecs. We may siiy that there is a parallelism in the intel- 

 lectual life as well as physical forms of these insects. 



In the ti-o{)ics there are social wasps with exceedingly 

 numerous colonies. Such is the Nectarina, a plump-bodied 

 \v;isp, which in Mexico huilds a large nest, externally like 

 that of a wasp, but more irregular, and with the walls con- 

 sisting of but a single layer. The interior of the nest is ver}' 

 dilferent, the galleries of cells, instead of being parallel, 

 being arranged in concentric spheres. The papier-mache 

 wasp, as we may call it, or Chartergns chartarlns, makes a 

 nest of the consistency of the densest pasteboard, which is 

 attached by a broad base to the bough of a tree, and is 

 about twice as long as thick, ending in a cone in which is 

 the entrance, from which is a passage from the middle to the 

 basal gallery, while the other galleries are formed l)y a con- 

 tinuation of the sides of the nest, and arranged in a conical 

 plane. 



The Tataa morio of Cayenne builds a nest somewhat like 

 tliat of the 2K(pier-mache wasp, but the galleries form a flat 

 floor, and each gallery has a separate entrance from the 

 outside of the nest. The nest of the social Synoica cyanea 

 is formed b}^ a single layer of cells fixed against the trunk 

 of a tree, and protected by a dense covering made from the 

 bark of dead trees, some nests being three feet long. There 

 are numerous less social species belonging to the genera 

 Apoica, Icaria, etc., which l)uild uncovered nests of but few 

 cells, but those distinctly hexagonal ; tliese form a connect- 

 ing link between the populous nests we have just described 

 and the solitary mud cells of the Od^'uerus and Kumenes. 



Turning now to the bees, we find an attempt at sociability 

 in the nests of the Aiulrana viciiia., a common bee in the 

 northern states, which ma}' best be described by saying that 

 it is of the size and general appearance of the hone^' bee. 

 Mr. Emerton has observed its habits quite closely and made 

 the accompanying drawing of its cells. The nest may be 



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