104 Insect Architecture. 



secured in the cells, which, with the mouths downward, cover 

 the ceiling above their heads the height of the latter being 

 just convenient for their work. 



[Unlike the habitations made by the British wasps, and 

 which are vacated annually, this nest is permanent, and 

 serves for several successive seasons. Of course, it must 

 be enlarged continually, so as to accommodate an ever- 

 increasing number of inhabitants. The mode of enlarging 

 is sufficiently curious. The British wasps enlarge their 

 nests either by making a larger covering and then removing 

 the smaller, or by raising blisters on the outside, and eating 

 away beneath them. But the pendulous wasp of Brazil pro- 

 ceeds on just the opposite principle, making new cells first, 

 and covering them afterwards. The new tier of cells is set 

 on the bottom of the nest, which thus becomes the floor 

 of that tier, and a new bottom is then made beneath these 

 new cells.] 



Pendent wasps' nests of enormous size are found in Ceylon, 

 suspended often in the talipot-tree at the height of seventy 

 feet. The appearance of these nests thus elevated, with the 

 larger leaves of the tree, used by the natives as umbrellas 

 and tents, ..waving over them, is very singular. Though no 

 species of European wasp is a storer of honey, yet this rule 

 does not apply to certain species of South America. In the 

 ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' for June, 1841, 

 will be found a detailed account, with a figure, of the pendent 

 nest of a species termed by Mr. A. White Myrapetra scutel- 

 laris. The external case consists of stout cardboard covered 

 with conical knobs of various sizes. The entrances are 

 artfully protected by pent-roofs from the weather and heavy 

 rains; and are tortuous, so as to render the ingress of a 

 moth or other large insect difficult. Internally are fourteen 

 combs, exclusive of a globular mass, the nucleus of several 

 circular combs, which are succeeded by others of an arched 

 form that is, constituting segments of circles. Many of 

 the uppermost combs were found to have the cells filled 

 with honey of a brownish-red colour, but which had lost its 

 flavour. After entering into some minute details, Mr. A. 



