224 NOTES ON 



tied up, as the wasps are very tenacious of life, and soon 

 recover from the effects of the powder. 



No. 1. — This specimen was nearly of a globular form; it 

 contained seven plates, placed horizontally above each other; 

 the central one was the largest, and the others gradually 

 diminished in size. The plates were supported by rudely- 

 constructed pillars, placed at irregular distances from each 

 other, and composed of the same material as the plates them- 

 selves, a material resembling pulverized decayed leaves. The 

 purpose of these pillars is to support the plates, and keep them 

 at an equal distance from each other, so that the working 

 wasps can freely visit all parts of the nest. The plates are 

 divided into numerous inverted hexagonal cells, in each of 

 which is deposited an egg of an oblong form, attached to the 

 side, nearly at the bottom, by a glutinous matter, which 

 envelops it at the period of its extrusion. From the egg is 

 produced the white larva, which is so favourite a bait with 

 fishermen ; after this has been fed by the working wasps for a 

 few days, it is covered in by them with a substance resembling 

 whity-brown paper, and becomes a pupa, which resembles the 

 larva in being perfectly white. 



The cells do not, as might be supposed, contain, indif- 

 ferently, males, females, and neuters on the same plate, but 

 each kind is confined to a separate plate, one containing all 

 males and neuters, and another all females. Those plates 

 which contain the females are very readily distinguished from 

 the others, by the superior size of the cells. Having observed 

 a number of worm-like substances at the bottom of the cells, 

 I was at a loss to know what they could be. It struck me 

 they might have some reference to the black streak contained 

 in each larva. On dissecting several larva I found that this 

 streak was the intestinal canal; and I further learned, from 

 the dissection of pupae, that they were entirely without the 

 black streak. On carefully examining the cells, I found that 

 each of the cells in which were pupae possessed one of the 

 worm-like substances, and that the cells in which there were 

 larvae were invariably without them. I therefore conclude, 

 that this substance is the contents of the intestinal canal, 

 discharged at the time of transformation from the larva to the 

 pupa state. 



No. 2 contains but five plates, the central one the largest, 



