NEST OF A PAPER WASP 55 



tightly shut up inside. About a month after the egg is laid 

 the winged insect conies forth as a large black wasp with bands 

 of white or yellow across its body. The cell is then used to 

 rear another larva. 



What is the thin white lining that projects a little way from 

 each empty cell ? See if you can tear the white lining as 

 easily as you can tear the paper of the nest. 



How Hornets' Nests are built. — Each hornet's nest is begun 

 in spring by a single mother wasp, and at first is about the 

 size of a black walnut. The w^asp children are nearly all 

 workers, with a few drones and queens. Thus the nest of hor- 

 nets is much like a hive of bees. The young all remain at 

 home and helj) the mother hornet to care for her other young. 

 As the family grows the hornets make the house larger and 

 larger. How large was the largest hornet's nest that you have 

 seen? Did you ever find a large hornet's nest early in sum- 

 mer? Why not? What becomes of the empty nests in fall ? 

 In the fall, when frost comes, all the wasps die except a few 

 mother wasps who pass the winter in some sheltered spot. In 

 an empty nest you may find a few dead wasps, which may be 

 either old ones or young ones too weak to fly away. 



One kind of wasp builds a paper comb for its young, but puts 

 no covering over it. You may often see these combs hanging 

 by single stems from the rafters or eaves of a barn. 



A kind of wasp commonly called a yellow jacket looks much 

 like a honeybee, and stings worse than a hornet. It makes a 

 light brown nest much like a hornet's nest, but builds it in a 

 hole in the ground and makes the paper out of rotten wood. 

 If you find a nest, mark the spot, and at the beginning of cold 

 weather dig it up and examine it. 



