188 



WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



Very likely these long, slender stems in 

 hot countries are useful in protecting the 

 wasps from the incursions of ants that 

 swarm everywhere in tropical places. 

 The wasps could strike off the ants as 

 they travelled down the slender support. 

 There are about half a dozen species 

 of Polistes in the United States, and 

 some fifty more in the rest of the world, 

 [ P,but they all live essentially alike, build- 

 ing their paper nests in convenient 

 places. 



Some of the Polistes build circular combs, 

 but other species have the curious habit of 

 making oblique combs, with the pedicel 

 attached at one end instead of in the 

 middle. 





