1 86 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



shows no trace of the successive sweeps of the insects' 

 jaws, so plainly exhibited in the papery coverings of 

 the English wasps. The thick hemispherical, cap is 

 varnished on the exterior, rendering it weatherproof ; 

 its use is clearly to protect the bed of cells against 

 rain and any body that might strike them in falling 

 from above ; in fact it takes the place of a roof to a 

 house. It likewise envelopes the branch, or branches, to 

 which it fixes the nest, its sticky nature being here of 

 great importance, and serves to bind the comb firmly 

 to the plants. The cells are sometimes nearly circular, 

 or deviate faintly from that form ; some of them are 

 perfect hexagons. It is a most remarkable fact that 

 in the same way though the entire nest-mass at times 

 is round, or diverges little therefrom, often it too is 

 hexagonal, and its six sides are as regular and the 

 angles are as true as if they had been drawn with rule 

 and compass (see Fig. 31). This is commonly the case 

 with the larger nests ; the great ones reach a diameter 

 of eleven or twelve inches. But near combs of the 

 kind may be found quite small hexagonal specimens, 

 showing that the insects have started with the idea of 

 constructing on these lines, and having begun thus 

 have adhered to the conception. 



The wasps hitherto considered are distinguished as 

 manufacturers of paper, in general fine and thin and 

 more or less brittle, the weakness of which they 

 overcome by the superposition of a great number 

 of leaves. There is a large class who while 

 they make many kinds of papyraceous tissues, are 

 noted for a feature in common the fabrication of a 

 solid and tough paper, a veritable cardboard, com- 



