200 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



as a temporary receptacle, a magazine for booty ? 

 Wasps are well known to plunder hives, and the 

 honey may have been treasure stolen from the 

 stores of some Melipona or Trigona bee. If 

 Polybia are really makers of honey, it seems only 

 reasonable to expect that their cells would be of a 

 nature to contain it ; moreover, that the stock laid by 

 would constitute food for the young as well as for 

 the community at large. It must be admitted that the 

 absence of brood may be explained by the suppo- 

 sition that the collection is made in the off-breeding 

 season, when the company would consist solely of 

 adults ; and when the death or repose of natural life 

 precludes the wasps from gathering food abroad, the 

 honey would serve them in good stead. The idea 

 has been started, but merits little credence, that a 

 nest of this kind is a forsaken wasps' nest invaded 

 by some species of Trigona bee. Wasps' cells are 

 unadapted to the great pursuit of bees, besides being 

 considerably too large for the proper accommodation 

 of these bees' larvae. 



The Nectarinia are likewise believed to be collectors 

 of honey. Their beautiful globular nests, of fine grey 

 paper like the paper of Vespa, but made up of a 

 single layer, are plentiful in the deep recesses of the 

 Brazilian and Mexican forests, being suspended near 

 the ground from the boughs of bushes, while long 

 delicate leaves and branches are woven into their 

 substance, and in many places are carried through 

 it and project on the other side. As in the 

 case of Myrapetra, they consist of series of 

 tiers composed alternately of comb and cover, the 



