163* 



WASPS' NESTS. MELLIFERA. 



FIG. 487. NEST OF POI.ISTES. 



construct their nests with bits of wood, bark, &c., which they 

 separate with their jaws and reduce 

 to a pulp ; and this pulp, when ex- 

 panded and dried, forms a paper-like 

 substance. With this are built layers 

 of hexagonal cells, one row being 

 joined to the under side of another. 

 The top row is attached, in some 

 species, merely to the under sitfe of 

 a branch, or to the roof of a slight 

 hollow, by which it may be in some 

 degree protected ; but in other 

 species, the whole comb is enveloped 

 in a covering, formed by several 

 layers of the same paper-like sub- 

 stance with one or more apertures (Fig. 488 ; and ANIM. 

 PHTSIOL. Fig. 267). Wasps feed in their perfect state upon 

 iusects, meat, fruit, &c. ; and nourish their young with the 

 juices of those substances. A Brazilian species stores up an 

 abundant provision of honey. The nests of the Solitary Wasps 



are formed of earth ; 

 they are sometimes 

 concealed in holes of 

 walls, in the earth, or 

 old wood ; and some- 

 times they are fixed to 

 plants. The parents 

 3tore them with insects 

 FIG.488.-NESTOFVESPAHOLSATICA. or caterpillars, which 



they have previously wounded with their stings. These nests 

 contain a succession of cells, in each of which a single egg is 

 deposited. 



762. Section IV. The Hymenoptera belonging to the Mel- 

 liferous, or honey-collecting, division of the Aculeata, are known 

 by the peculiar conformation of the hind feet ; of which the 

 first joint is compressed and extended into the form of a square 

 plate, and provided on the inside with brush-like tufts ; these 



