134 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



since she is a creature of resources, she is 

 willing to use any good paper-making 

 material that comes her way. 



She, no doubt, prefers the wood fibre 

 or the fibre obtained from leaves or roots 

 used by her ancestors for countless gen- 

 erations, yet if that is not convenient she 

 does not hesitate to take any reasonable 

 substitute. She has been known to make 

 a gay abode of bright colours from un- 

 known materials. The author of " Homes 

 without Hands," says, — 



" I have seen a nest which was made 

 almost entirely of the blue and white 

 paper used for cartridges, the wasps hav- 

 ing taken advantage of the expended 

 papers, and used them instead of taking 

 the trouble to gnaw hard wood." 



Vespa does not use ready-made paper, 

 but chews it up and re-spreads it, so to 

 speak, into wasp paper. 



The present writer once took a yellow- 

 jacket's nest in which the predominating 



