HYMENOPTERA. 



375 



tiets the females, which might be attracted in quantities by means 

 of the blossom of the black currant." This is a useful hint to 

 gardeners. 



The Hornets are distinguished from other wasps by their great 

 size. They make their nests in the trunks of old trees, perforating 

 the sound wood to arrive at the heart, which is rotten, or hollowing 

 for themselves a hole, which they clear out by the gallery which 

 leads to it. In this hole they construct first a dome suspended to 

 the top by a footstalk ; then a series of combs composed of cells, 



Fig. 352.— Hanging Hornet's Nest 



hanging the first to this dome, the second to the first, and so on, by 

 stalks or pillars of a paper-like substance. When fixed under roofs, 

 these insects have often the form of an elongated pear. Fig. 352 

 represents one of these nests, after Re'aumur. The societies of 

 hornets contain fewer members than those of the common wasp ; 

 at most 200 insects. 



The Polistes are a peculiar kind of wasp, smaller than the others, 

 slender, with the abdomen tapering towards the base. The con- 

 struction of their nests is more simple, having no envelopes, as 

 shown in Fig. 353. They attach them to the stems of broom, furze, 

 ^x other shrubs, by a footstalk, or pedicle^ They are like little 



