PAPER-MAKERS 165 



Although the cells when once advanced to their 

 full size demand no paper-making, and serve for 

 the accommodation of successive batches of grubs, 

 there are always new combs to be built and the 

 circumference of old combs to be increased by- 

 adding new cells to their edges. In addition, with 

 this growth in the size of the combs, and the pro- 

 vision of new ones below the old, the area of the 

 nest has to be increased, and this requires more 

 and more paper ; so that until quite late in the 

 season our fence is in constant request. There are 

 some people so biased against the wasp that, if 

 they were only sufficiently observant to see this 

 continual shaving of their fences, they would make 

 this a fresh count in the indictment against her. 



At first the wasp nest is a very poor affair. The 

 so-called " queen " or mother wasp, that has 

 passed the winter in a torpid state where she has 

 been protected from frost, begins afresh in the 

 early days of spring. She only emerged from her 

 pupa-cell at the fag end of last season, and after 

 her marriage flight went into retirement. So she 

 has had no opportunity for acquiring experience 

 by watching the procedure of her mother or her 

 older sisters. Her mother had probably died of 

 old age and egg- bearing before the daughter threw 

 off her pupa-skin. 



However, she knows that it devolves upon her to 

 make provision for her coming offspring, and her 

 first concern is to find a reliable source for her raw 

 material. That having been discovered and its 



