206 FAMILI^, {Apis. **. e. 2.) 



Reaumur, and equally so, I apprehend, with trutk 

 and nature. He says, " that they make spacious 

 subterraneous apartments, in which they construct 

 their combs, consisting, like those of the hive bee, 

 of hexagonal cells, but composed of different ma- 

 terials, their substance being like parchment, and 

 made of small particles of rotten wood formed into 

 a paste, by means of a glutinous liquor with which 

 nature has furnished them : that in these cells th6y 

 deposit their eggs, supplying them with a sufficient 

 quantity of honey : that these combs are surround- 

 ed with a thick border, consisting of thin laminae 

 resembling dry leaves, and made of the same ma- 

 terial with the cells (Z>)." This account so accu- 

 rately describes a wasp's nest, that I cannot help 

 suspecting that it was taken from one. ' I believe 

 no Bomhiiiatrix was ever found to nidificate in this 

 manner. 



I shall add here what Ray has observed upon the 

 same subject. " Eulae," says he, " ut et aliorum 

 generum, glabrae sunt, colore carneo-albicante, in. 

 annulos divisae, ventre planiore, dorso giobo et ela- 

 to, rostro acutiore, cauda obtusiore ; erithaca aut 

 materia quadam erithacae simili circundatae, quae 

 eis pro alimento inservit, in qua latitantes, in glo- 

 bulum fere convolvuntur, cauda ad caput adducta, 

 Asellorum instar. Cum justam magnitudinem 

 adeptae sunt, folliculos validos et velut coriaceos 

 tibimetipsis texunt, iisque inclusas in nymphas mu- 



(l) Hist. Ins. Par. 2. p. 404, 405. 



tantur. 



