376 



THE INSECT WOELD. 



do not give this name to the sides of the hollow in which it is 

 situated ; the walls I allude to are only walls of paper, but strong 

 enough, nevertheless, for the uses for which they are intended." 

 Generally, the shape of the outside of a wasp's nest is spherical 

 or oval, sometimes conical. Its diameter is about from twelve to 

 sixteen inches, its surface, which resembles a mass of bivalve 

 shells, has one hole for entrance, and another for exit, just large 

 enough to allow of one single wasp passing in or out at the same 

 time (Fig. 350). 



The wasps' nest is composed, in the interior, of fifteen or sixteen 



Fig. 351. Interior of Wasps' JS'est, after Reaumur. 



horizontal galleries, arranged in stories, and supported by numerous 

 pillars of separation. We give here (Fig. 351) a section and view 

 of the interior, drawn from memory by Reaumur.* The cakes 

 forming the comb are composed of hexagonal cells, which are 

 always used as cradles, never as storehouses. They open below. 



* Tome vi., planche 14, p. 167. 



