FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



cut away, slice after slice, until, at a depth of about: 

 twenty inches, the Wasp's nest is revealed, uninjured, 

 slung from the roof of a spacious cavity. 



It is indeed a superb achievement, as large as a fair- 

 sized pumpkin. It hangs free on every side except at 

 the top, where various roots, mostly of couch-grass, pene- 

 trate the thickness of the wall and fasten the nest firmly. 

 Its shape is round wherever the ground has been soft, 

 and of the same consistency all through. In stony soil, 

 where the Wasps meet with obstacles in their digging, 

 the sphere becomes more or less misshapen. 



A space of a hand's-breadth is always left open be- 

 tween the paper nest and the sides of the underground 

 vault. This space is the wide street along which the 

 builders move unhindered at their continual task of 

 enlarging and strengthening the nest, and the passage 

 that leads to the outer world opens into it. Under- 

 neath the nest is a much larger unoccupied space, 

 rounded into a big basin, so that the wrapper of the nest 

 can be enlarged as fresh cells are added. This cavity 

 also serves as a dust-bin for refuse. 



The cavity was dug by the Wasps themselves. Of 

 that there is no doubt; for holes so large and so regular 

 do not exist ready-made. The original foundress of the 

 nest may have seized on some cavity made by a Mole, 

 to help her at the beginning; but the greater part of the 



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