CKcttornirn of 



723 



board, impenetrable by the weather. It has 

 been fully described by Reaumur in the sixth 

 volume of his Memoires : ' in the British 

 Museum there are two specimens of this neat. 

 They are securely attached to the branch of 

 a tree by their upper end, and vary much in 

 length, from a few inches, as in the Museum 

 specimens, to two feet or even more. In the 

 former case they are more or less round, and 



i have but four or five combs, while in the 

 latter they arc of a long cylindrical shape, 



, and have a corresponding number of parti- 



| tions ; additional combs are added to the 

 lower part as the occupants increase in num- 

 ber. These combs are horizontal, convex 

 on the under side, and fixed to the walls of 

 the nest by their whole circumference. The 

 cells are hexagonal and open downwards, 



' in most other nests constructed by the 

 pidm. Each of the combs has a hole near 



! the middle, through which access is obtained 

 to the uppermost apartments. The upper 

 entrance is by a small round orifice near the 

 middle of the under side, which is more or 

 less funnel-shaped. 



i " The insects which form these curious 

 habitations have been observed by Lacordaire 

 in their native country. Their societies are 

 not dissolved each year, as happens with the 

 wasps of our climates, which, on the approach 

 of cold weather, are nearly all cut off. The 

 nests are found in copse-wood, principally 

 near plantations (at least in Guiana), and 

 are generally suspended at a height of three 

 or four feet from the ground. During the 

 rainy season, from January to the middle of 

 June, only perfect nests are to be met with ; 

 in January and February the cells are in 

 great measure filled with larvae ; in March 

 and April these decrease in number, and by 

 the end of May scarcely any are to be found. 

 These are thought to turn into females, 

 which, not finding room in their old nursery, 

 emigrate and form new colonies, as when 

 the line season returns, which is about the 

 middle of June, nests are to be found in pro- 

 gress ; but instead of only one female being 

 at work, as is the case with our wasps, La- 

 cordaire has observed as many as a dozen 

 busily engaged in constructing their new 

 abode. As soon as a series of cells is com- 

 pleted larva may be found in them, and the 

 nest is gradually increased by the addition 

 of new combs. In September the structure 

 is half finished, and towards the end of No- 

 vember it is most frequently completed. The 

 old nests of the preceding year continue 

 peopled as before, but new larvae were only 

 observed in them in abundance in September 

 or October ; these are believed to turn into 

 neuters : if this is the case, the reverse takes 

 place with the European wasps, the neuters 

 of which are first excluded. 



Mr. Walter Hawkins has presented to the 

 collection of the British Museum a paste- 

 board nest discovered in June, 1837, in the 

 woods situated along the banks of the Yan- 

 cay, a tributary stream of the Uruguay, and 

 takes its rise in the province of Entrcrios : 

 it was about seven feet from the ground. 

 Viewed sideways, it is of an oblong form, 

 rounded at the base : the orifices at the side, 

 near the bottom, bulge out considerably. 



When viewed from beneath it is somewhat 

 ovate. It is very generally covered with 

 conical knobs of various shapes, nearly all 

 of which are more or less rubbed at the end, 

 but in some places, less exposed, they are i 

 pointed, and in many instances nearly three 

 quarters of an inch long. At the very top, 

 and on the side altoye the entrance, there are 

 but few of thebe projections ; in two or three 

 places the surface is very distinctly con- 

 tracted ; and in the concavities are no pro- 

 jecting points ; the knob* teem to run in 



irregular, generally transverse, ridges. The 

 entrances are artfully protected by pent 

 | roofs from the weather, which, in the rainy 

 season, is sometimes very violent ; they are 

 also so intricately twisted, as to prevent the 

 ingress of any moth or other enemy, at least 

 of any size. The hardness of the whole mass 

 must tend very much to protect its con- 

 structor from the attacks of insect or honey- 

 seeking animals ; and the natives, with some 

 degree of probability, believe, that feline and 

 other animals are deterred from taking the 

 nest by the pointed knobs with which it is 

 I covered. The substance is hard, the texture 

 i close, and, when seen with a slight magni- 

 fying power, seems curiously matted. The 

 natives say that it is principally formed of 

 the dried dung of the Carpincho and dried 

 rushes and underwood. The Carpincho is 

 a species of Tapir or Water-hog, and is am- 

 phibious. 



Many of the uppermost combs have the 

 cells, in the middle, tilled with a brownish 

 red honey, which, In its present state, pos- 

 sesses scarcely any smell or taste. Azara, 



8*2 



