90 OUT OF DOORS. 



with a kind of cement obtained from various trees, and 

 their shape is that of hexagonal or six-sided tubes, set 

 closely against each other, and practically carrying out 

 the interesting problem of giving the largest amount of 

 space with the smallest expenditure of material and 

 labour. On the other hand, the cells of the humble-bee 

 are oval, and without any attempt at regular arrange- 

 ment. The walls of the cell are tough and leathery ; 

 and, when subjected to the microscope, their structure is 

 resolvable into a number of regular silken fibres, cross- 

 ing each other in a kind of meshless network, and 

 agglutinated together by some other substance. But 

 the cell of the wasp is of a very different character from 

 both, and is composed of different substances. 



The wasp makes his nest of veritable paper not 

 quite so white or so fine as that employed in the print- 

 ing of this book, but paper nevertheless, and made of 

 vegetable fibre, torn to shreds, pulped in water, and then 

 spread into sheets and dried. Any one may see the 

 insect hard at work at its natural paper-mill. Gro to any 

 old post or decaying tree, and there may be seen the 

 wasps in full energy employed most zealously upon their 

 work. Look at them closely for they will allow them- 

 selves to be watched while thus occupied and you will 

 soon see the process in its earlier stages. With its 

 strong jaws the wasp bites away fibre after fibre of the 

 decaying wood, and continues to select a sufficient num- 

 ber to make up into a little bundle. It is very 

 fastidious about the quality of the fibres, and rejects 



