CH. VI.] THE COMMON WASP. 103 



There is an interval of half an inch between each 

 comb. Although the combs are fixed to the side of 

 the nest, they would not be sufficiently strong with- 

 out farther support; the ingenious builders, there- 

 fore, connect each comb to that below it, by a num- 

 ber of strong cylindrical columns or pillars, having, 

 according to the rules of architecture, their base and 

 capital wider than the shaft, and composed of the 

 same paper-like material used in other parts of the 

 nest, but of a more compact substance. A rustic 

 colonnade, consisting of no less than forty or fifty 

 such columns, connects the middle combs ; for the 

 upper and lower combs being of less dimensions 

 and weight, a smaller number suffices. In order to 

 get at these combs, the wasps take care to leave a 

 void space between them and the extreme envelope. 



Cruel and ferocious as these insects may appear, 

 still their affection for their habitation and young is 

 very striking. Whatever injury may be done to the 

 nest, if it should be even broken to pieces, they will 

 linger about the cherished spot, or quit it only to fol- 

 low the combs wherever they may be transferred. 

 " Those," says Reaumur, " which were absent 

 when I removed the nest, finding, on their return, 

 neither companions nor home, knew not where to 

 go, and for days together hovered around the hole 

 before they determined to abandon the spot." The 

 material from which the nest is constructed is vege- 

 table fibre. The wasp will not use sawdust ; but, 

 knowing that a filamentous material, like linen rags, 

 is necessary for the fabrication of its paper, it 

 amasses pieces of some substance possessing this 

 quality. As the first step in the process of paper- 

 making is to soak the vegetable fibre in water, so 

 the wasp takes special care to select the filaments 

 which it intends to use from wet wood which has 

 rotted in the rain. These are worked up with a 

 glutinous secretion, and thus the material is pre- 

 pared. When the wasp can get its paper ready- 



