HYMENOPTERA. 



373 



surrounded with walls on all sides. I do not give this name to the 

 side of the hollow in which it is situated ; the walls I allude to are 

 only walls of paper, but strong enough, nevertheless, for the uses for 

 which they are intended." Generally, the shape of the outside of a 

 wasp's nest is spherical or oval, sometimes conical. Its diameter is 



Fig. 3SI--I 



of a Wasp's Nest, after Reaumur. 



about from twelve to sixteen inches, its surface, which resembles 

 a mass of bivalve shells, has one hole for entrance, and another for 

 exit, just large enough to allow of one single wasp passing in or out 

 at the same time (Fig. 350). 



The wasps' nest is composed, in the interior, of fifteen or sixteen 

 horizontal galleries, arranged in storeys, and supported by numerous 

 pillars of separation. We give here (Fig. 351) a section and view of 



