190 Mr. Newport on the Habits, &)C. 



vermicular motion is tending to remove it. I was now prevented 

 from pursuing my observations any further, the parent insect being 

 accidentally killed. I had, however, observed enough of its pro- 

 ceedings to feel assured that in this instance at least the partition 

 between the cells is not double, but that the walls of one cell 

 are common to all that surround it. Whether the hornet lines 

 the interior of its cells with a membrane, as is done by the hive 

 bee, I have had no opportunity of observing. 



On examining the nest of that interesting little tree wasp, 

 Vespa Britannica, it is evident that it is formed in exactly the 

 same manner as that of the hornet. Very distinct layers of mate- 

 rial are seen in the outer coverings, and the walls of the cells are 

 so thin that its structure can hardly be questioned. From an ex- 

 amination of the cells of the common wasp, some months since, 

 I was disposed to think that they were formed of several distinct 

 layers, which are easily separable ; but from the fact that this is 

 not the case in the cells of the hornet, or of the tree wasp, the 

 appearances then observed were perhaps occasioned by the 

 cocoons left by the larvae, which may easily be mistaken for 

 separate walls. Respecting the kind of material employed by the 

 common wasp, in the construction of its nest, there appears to be 

 some difference of opinion. Reaumur states that the wasp pro- 

 cures its material from decayed timber, like the hornet ; but 

 White, of Selbourne, and Kirby and Spence, assert that hornets 

 alone obtain it from rotten or decayed wood, while the wasp pro- 

 cures it from sound timber. From my own observations I can 

 state most positively that the wasp procures, at least, some portion 

 of the materials it employs from rotten wood, as 1 have many 

 times witnessed during the last summer. I saw both the common 

 ■wasps, and the hornet upon which I made the above observations, 

 busily engaged at the same moment in obtaining materials from 

 the same piece of rotten wood. The wasps even penetrated into 

 the soft wood in several places to procure the material. But I 

 have also seen the wasps, as many others have done, procuring it 

 from the solid wood of a window-framing ; although it must be 

 remarked that the wood in this instance also has been that which 

 was somewhat affected by the weather. 



