80 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



as he imagined, of the absence of the foundress 

 hornet at the time it was removed, he could not get 

 the other five hornets, of which the colony consisted, 

 either to add to the building or repair the damages 

 which it had sustained. 



Hornet''s nest in ifsjirst stage. 



M. Reaumur differs from our EngUsh naturalists, 

 White, Kirby, and Spence, with respect to the ma- 

 terials employed by the hornet for building. The 

 latter say that it employs decayed wood; the former, 

 that it uses the bark of the ash-tree, but takes less 

 pains to split it into fine fibres than wasps do; not, 

 however, because it is destitute of skill; for in con- 

 structing the suspensory columns of the platforms, a 

 paste is prepared little inferior to that made by wasps. 

 We cannot, from our own observations, decide which 



