ITADITATIOXS OF INSECTS, 505 



JVasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their 

 fellow-insects, are civilized and polished in their inter-- 

 course with each oti'er, and form a community whose 

 architectural labours will not suffer on comparison 

 even with those of the peaceful inhabitants of a bee- 

 hive. Like these, the ojreat o])ject of their industry is 

 the erection of a structure for their beloved progeny, 

 towards which they discover the greatest tenderness 

 and affection, and they even in like manner construct 

 combs consisting of hexagonal cells for their recep- 

 tion ; but the substance which they make use of is very 

 dissimilar to the wax employed by bees, and the gene- 

 ral plan of their city diifers in many respects from that 

 of a bee-hive. 



The common wasp's nest, usually situated in a ca- 

 vity under ground, is of an oval figure, about sixteen 

 or eighteen inches long by twelve or thirteen broad. 

 Externally it is surrounded by a thick coating of nu- 

 merous leaves of a sort of grayish paper, which do not 

 touch each other, but have a small interval between 

 each, so that, if the rain should chance to penetrate 

 one or two of them, its progress is speedily arrested. 

 On removing this external covering, we perceive that 

 the interior consists of from twelve to fifteen circular 

 combs of different sizes, not ranged vertically as in a 

 bee-hive, but horizontally, so as to form so many di- 

 stinct and parallel stories. Each comb is composed of 

 a numerous assemblage of hexagonal cells formed of 

 the same paper-like substance as the exterior covering 

 of the nest, and, according to a discovery of Dr. Bar- 

 play, each, as in those of bees, a distinct cell, the par- 



