282 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. * 



entangled, it pushes them under its body by means of the first pair of legs ; 

 the intermediate pair receives the moss, and delivers it to the last, which 

 protrudes it as far as possible beyond the anus. When by this process the 

 insect has formed behind it a small ball of well-carded moss, the next bee 

 pushes it to the third, which consigns it, in like manner, to that behind it ; 

 and thus the balls are conveyed to the foot of the nest, and from thence 

 elevated to the summit much in the same way that a file of labourers trans- 

 fer a parcel of cheeses from a vessel or cart to a warehouse. 1 It is easy 

 to perceive that a vast saving of time must ensue from this well-contrived 

 division of labour ; the structure rising much more rapidly than if every 

 individual had been employed first in carding his materials, and then in 

 transferring them to the spot. 



Wasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their fellow-insects, are 

 civilised and polished in their intercourse with each other, and form a 

 community whose architectural labours will not suffer on comparison even 

 with those of the peaceful inhabitants of a bee-hive. Like these, the great 

 object of their industry is the erection of a structure for their beloved pro- 

 geny, towards which they discover the greatest tenderness and affection, 

 and they even, in like manner, construct combs consisting of hexagonal 

 cells for their reception ; but the substance which they make use of is very 

 dissimilar to the wax employed by bees ; and the general plan of their city 

 differs in many respects from that of a bee-hive. 



The common wasp's nest, usually situated in a cavity underground, is of 

 an oval figure, about sixteen or eighteen inches long by twelve or thirteen 

 broad. Externally, it is surrounded by a thick coating of numerous leaves 

 of a sort of greyish paper, which do not touch each other, but have a 

 small interval between each, so that if the rain should chance to penetrate 

 one or two of them, its progress is speedily arrested. On removing this 

 external covering, we perceive that the interior consists of from twelve to 

 fifteen circular combs of different sizes, not ranged vertically as in a bee- 

 hive, but horizontally, so as to form so many distinct and parallel stories. 

 Each comb is composed of a numerous assemblage of hexagonal cells 

 formed of the same paper-like substance as the exterior covering of the 

 nest, and, according to Dr. Barclay, each, as in those of bees, a distinct 

 cell, the partition walls being double. 2 These cells, which, as wasps do 

 not store up any food, serve merely as the habitations of their young, are 

 not, like those of the honey-bee, arranged in two opposite layers, but in one 

 only, their entrance being always downwards : consequently their upper part 

 of the comb, composed of the bases of cells, which are not pyramidal 

 but slightly convex, forms a nearly level floor, on which the inhabitants 

 can conveniently pass and repass, spaces of about half an inch high being 

 left between each comb. Although the combs are fixed to the sides of the 

 nest, they would not be sufficiently strong without further support. The 

 ingenious builders, therefore, connect each comb to that below it by a 

 number of strong cylindrical columns or pillars, having according to the 

 rules of architecture their base and capital wider than the shaft, and com- 

 posed of the same paper-like material used in other parts of the nest, but 

 of a more compact substance. The middle combs are connected by a rustic 



1 Reaum. vi. 710. 



2 JHr.moirs of the Wernerian Society, ii. 260. 



