HABITATIO.VS OF IXSECTS. 509 



gaged in constructing the nest, its entire completion is 

 the work of several months : yet, though the fruit of 

 such severe labour, it has scarcely been finished a (esv 

 weeks before winter comes on, when it merely serves 

 for the abode of a kw benumbed females, and is en- 

 tirely abandoned at the approach of spring; wasps ne- 

 ver using- the same nest for more than one season''. 



The nests of the hornet in their general construction 

 resemble those of the connuon wasp, but the paper of 

 which they are composed is of a much more rough tex- 

 ture ; the columns which support the comb are higher 

 and more massive ; and that in the centre larger than 

 the rest. 



These last, as well as wasps, conceal their nest, sus- 

 pending it in the corners of outhouses, &c. ; but there 

 are other species which construct their habitations in 

 open day-light, affixing them to the branches of shrubs 

 or trees. 



One of these, described by Latreille, the work of 

 Vespa holsalica, F., a species not uncommon with us, 

 resembles in shape a cone of the cedar of Lebanon, and 

 is composed of an envelope and the comb, the former 

 consisting of three partial envelopes, each of the in- 

 terior of which is longer than the preceding. The 

 comb comprises about thirty hexagonal cells circularly 

 arranged, those of the circuraference being lower and 

 smaller^. 



A vespiary somewhat similar to the above, but of a 

 depressed globular figure, and composed of more nu- 

 merous envelopes, so as to assume a considerable re- 

 semblance to a half-expanded Provence rose, is figured 



'■ Kcaun). vi. ?,icni. 6. * JniialM du Mic-ieum d'Hiit. Aai. i. 2^-9. 



