188 LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 



sively used, although they were almost too 

 brittle to be written upon with freedom. 



After several thousand years, during which 

 these various substances were used, and men 

 had been exercising their ingenuity in attempt- 

 ing to manufacture a more suitable material, 

 they discovered that cotton and linen rags, and 

 some other vegetable substances, when ground, 

 made into a pulp, spread out to dry, and sized 

 with glue, would make a firm, good paper, 

 upon which they could write with ease. 



Reneb. Is this the way in which our paper 

 is made ? 



Jlunt M. Yes ; and the wasp had been 

 making it upon very much the same plan ever 

 since her creation, although man had never un- 

 derstood it before. 



Harriet. But, Aunt Mary, how does the 

 wasp make paper ? 



Aunt M. We will go back to our little 

 friend the wasp, whom we left awhile ago, just 

 as she had completed her under-ground cham- 

 ber, and see how she makes the paper of which 

 she is now about to form her nest. 



She has alighted upon an old wooden post, 



