370 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



liquid which they disgorge. The cells in the combs are hexagonal, 

 and very regular, like those of bees."* 



Wasps collect the materials with which they build near the place 



Fig- 347. The Hornet (Vespa crabro). 



where they have chosen to establish their domicile. These materials 

 are ligneous fibre, mixed up with saliva, with the aid of which these 

 insects prepare the paper-like substance, which is very tough, and 

 destined to form the walls of the cells and their exterior covering. 

 The greater number make their habitation in 

 the ground. Of these is our Common Wasp 

 ( Vespa vulgaris), which is black, agreeably 

 contrasted with bright yellow. The Bush 

 Wasp ( Vespa norvegica), which inhabits woods, 

 constructs its nest between the branches of 

 shrubs or bushes. It is smaller than the 

 common species. The Hornet is the largest 

 European species of the family of the Vespida. 

 The substance of its nest is yellowish, and 

 very fragile, and is constructed under a roof, 

 in a loft, or in the hole of an old wall, but 



most often in the hollow of a decayed tree. Another species of this 

 family (Polistes gallica, Fig. 348) fixes its little nest by a foot-stalk to 

 the stem of some plant. 



Wasps begin laying in spring, and go on laying all the summer. 

 Each cell receives one single egg, and, as with bees, the workers' eggs 

 are the first laid. Eight days after the laying, there comes out of 

 each egg a larva without feet, and already provided with two man- 

 dibles. These larvas receive their food in the form of balls, which 



Fig. 348. Polistes gallica. 



* " M&noires pour servir 

 4to. Stockholm, 1771. 



PHistoire des Insectes," tome ii., p. 765. In 



