378 THE INSECT WOELD. 



degree the number of wasps, which are. later, so destructive to 

 the fruit, by catching in nets the females, which might be attracted 

 in quantities by means of the blossom of the black currant." This 

 is a useful hint to gardeners. 



The Hornets are distinguished from other wasps by their great 

 size. They make their nests in the trunks of old trees, perforating 

 the sound wood, to arrive at the heart, which is rotten, or hollow- 



rig. 352. Hanging Hornets'^Nest. 



ing for themselves a hole, which they clear out by the gallery 

 which leads to it. In this hole they construct first a dome sus- 

 pended to the top by a footstalk ; then a series of combs composed 

 of cells, hanging the first to this dome, the second to the first, and 

 so on, by stalks or pillars of a paper-like substance. When fixed 

 under roofs, these nests have often the form of an elongated pear. 

 Fig. 352 represents one of these nests, after Reaumur. The 

 societies of hornets contain fewer members than those of the 

 common wasp ; at most two hundred insects. 



The Polistes are a peculiar kind of wasp, smaller than the 

 others, slender, with the abdomen tapering towards the base. The 

 construction of their nests is more simple, having no envelopes, as 

 shown in Fig. 353. They attach them to the stems of broom, 

 furze, or other shrubs, by a footstalk or pedicle. They are like 



