II. On the Formation of the Cells of Bees and Wasps. 
By G. R. WateruovuseE, F.Z.S8., Ke. 
[Read 7th March, 1864,] 
Ata former meeting of this Society, a discussion having arisen 
respecting the theory of the structure of the cells of wasps, &c., 
I stated that I possessed the commencement of a hornet’s nest— 
or rather of the comb—in which there were but three cells, and 
these only partially built: that these cells were so placed that 
each one came in contact with two others, and had two flat sides, 
the flat sides forming the common partitions between two cells; 
and that the remaining portion of each cell (being about two- 
thirds of the entire circumference) was circular at the opening. 
I promised to exhibit this rudimentary condition of a hornet’s 
nest, and was reminded of this promise by our ex-President at the 
last meeting. I now lay it before you (PI. XIII. figs. 1 and 1a); 
but before I proceed to make any remarks respecting it, I am 
anxious to direct the attention of the members to other nests 
and cells of Hymenopterous insects; and especially to the very 
extensive collection of these interesting objects exhibited in the 
small room at the east end of the northern Zoological Gallery of 
the British Museum. Here will be found between three and four 
hundred nests of various kinds of bees, wasps, &c. These nests, 
and many others which I have had opportunities of examining, 
may be divided into three principal classes. 
I, Nests formed in burrows in the ground, or in dead’ wood. 
They are very numerous, and the cells of which they are 
composed are either cylindrical or ovate, sometimes round, 
or nearly so. 
II. Isolated cells, not deposited in such excavations, but merely 
attached to some foreign substance. They are frequently 
ovate, sometimes cylindrical and sometimes spherical— 
never angular. 
III. Groups of cells more or less closely united, not deposited in 
excavations or burrows, but either attached to some foreign 
substance, or to a nest-covering made by the insects. 
Here the form of the cell is commonly hexagonal. 
Now it is a striking fact that of these different kinds of nests 
‘VOL, Il, THIRD SERIES, PART II,—AvGusT, 1864, K 
