rm: wasp. 353 



ordinary kinds. But it is not their figure, but the manners ot 

 this extraordinary insect, that claim our principal regard. 



From the end of May to the beginning of July, this wasp is 

 seen most diligently employed. The whole purpose of its life 

 seems to be in contriving and fitting up a commodious apart- 

 ment for its young one, which is not to succeed it till the year 

 ensuing. For this end it is employed, witli unwearied assiduity, 

 in boring a hole in the finest earth some inches deep, but not 

 much wider than the diameter of its own body. This is but a 

 gallery leading to a wider apartment destined for the convenient 

 lodgment of its young. As it always chooses a giavelly soil to 

 work in, and where the earth is almost as hard as stone itself, 

 the digging and hollowing this apartment is an enterprise of no 

 small labour : for effecting its operations, this insect is furnished 

 with two teeth, which are strong and firm, but not sufficiently 

 hard to penetrate the substance through which it is resolved to 

 make its way. In order therefore to soften that earth which it 

 is unable to pierce, it is furnished with a gummy liquor, which 



further. We may, however, learn something from their perfect knowledfjo 

 of what is within their range. It is not improbable that if man had at- 

 tended in an earlier state of society to the labours of wasps, he would have 

 sooner known how to make paper. We are still behind in our arts and 

 sciences, because we have not always been observers. If we had watched 

 the operations of insects, and the structure of animals iu genera), with more 

 care, we might have been far advanced in the knowledge of many arts, 

 which are yet in their infancy, for nature has given ns abundance of pat- 

 terns. We have learned to perfect some instruments of sound, by examin- 

 ing the structure of the human ear ; and the mechanism of an eye has sug- 

 gested some valuable improvements in achromatic glasses. 



" Reaumur has given a very interesting account of the wasps of Cayenne, 

 which hang their nests iu trees. Like the bird of Africa called the Loxia, 

 they fabricate a perfect house, capable of containing many himdreds of their 

 commimity, and suspend it on high out of the reach of attack. But th« 

 Cayenne wasp is a more expert artist than the bird. He is a card-maki-r, 

 — and travellers of veracity agree that the card with which he forms the ex- 

 terior covering of his abode is so smooth, so strong, so uniform in its tex- 

 ture, and so white, that the most skilful manufacturer of this substance 

 might be proud of the work. 



" The nest of the card-making wasp is impervious to water. It hang> 

 npon the branch of a tree; and those rain.drops which penetrate througii 

 the leaves never rest upon its hard and polished surface. A small opening 

 for the entrance of the insects terminates its funnel-shaped bottom. It is 

 impossible to unite more perfectly the qualities of lightness and strength." 

 — Insect Architecture. 



