COMMON WASPS 



enormous vault was the work of the Wasps. Yet there 

 is not a scrap of rubbish outside the entrance. Where 

 is the mass of earth that has been removed? 



It has been spread over such a large surface of ground 

 that it is unnoticed. Thousands and thousands of 

 Wasps work at digging the cellar, and enlarging it as 

 that becomes necessary. They fly up to the outer world, 

 each carrying a particle of earth, which they drop on the 

 ground at some distance from the nest, in all directions. 

 Being scattered in this way the earth leaves no visible 

 trace. 



The Wasp's nest is made of a thin, flexible material 

 like brown paper, formed of particles of wood. It is 

 streaked with bands, of which the colour varies according 

 to the wood used. If it were made in a single continu- 

 ous sheet it would give little protection against the cold. 

 But the Common Wasp, like the ballon-maker, knows 

 that heat may be preserved by means of a cushion of 

 air contained by several wrappers. So she makes her 

 paper-pulp into broad scales, which overlap loosely and 

 are laid on in numerous layers. The whole forms a 

 coarse blanket, thick and spongy in texture and well 

 filled with stagnant air. The temperature under this 

 shelter must be truly tropical in hot weather. 



The fierce Hornet, chief of the Wasps, builds her nest 

 on the same principle. In the hollow of a willow, or 



[143] 



