HYMENOPTERA. 



375 



nets the females, which might be attracted in quantities by means 

 of the blossom of the black currant." This is a useful hint to 

 gardeners. 



The Hornets are distinguished from other wasps by their great 

 size. They make their nests in the trunks of old trees, perforating 

 the sound wood to arrive at the heart, which is rotten, or hollowing 

 for themselves a hole, which they clear out by the gallery which 

 leads to it. In this hole they construct first a dome suspended to 

 tthe top by a footstalk ; then a series of combs composed of cells, 



Fig. 352.— Hanging Hornet's Nest. 



unging the first to this dome, the second to the first, and so on, by 

 -talks or pillars of a paper-like substance. When fixed under roofs, 

 hese insects have often the form of an elongated pear. Fig. 352 

 epresents one of these nests, after Reaumur. The societies of 

 lomets contain fewer members than those of the common wasp ; 

 .t most 200 insects. 



The Polistes are a peculiar kind of wasp, smaller than the others, 

 lender, with the abdomen tapering towards the base. The con- 

 truction of their nests is more simple, having no envelopes, as 

 hown in Fig. 353. They attach them to the stems of broom, furze, 

 T other shrubs, by a footstalk, or pedicle. They are like little 



