276 ANIMAL LIFE 



relieved of these duties, confines her labours to stocking 

 the cells with eggs. 



With the first warm days of the year, the queen 

 wasps issue from their several hibernating places and 

 quarter the ground in search of suitable sites in which 

 to found the colonies. A hollow tree, a shelving bank, 

 or an earthen crevice provide the necessary protection, 

 and having selected the site the queen proceeds to 

 build her nest. The substance employed for this 

 purpose consists of wood-fibre, chewed to a pulp and 

 thoroughly mixed with saliva till it forms a paper-like 

 substance. With this wood-pulp the queen constructs 

 the foundation, central support, and covering dome. 

 To the underside of the dome she next affixes a few 

 hexagonal cells. In each of these she places an egg, 

 adds honey, and closes the aperture. In this way 

 the first comb or tier of cells is prepared. The develop- 

 ment of the brood is rapid, and issues in a small 

 swarm of workers, which remain in the nest, as they are 

 incapable of founding a new colony. They enlarge 

 the existing cells and add comb after comb of new 

 ones, stocking each cell, when the queen has laid in it, 

 with honey and pollen. They extend and strengthen 

 the dome and narrow its entrance, so as to form a 

 small circular opening, such as is shown in fig. 54. 

 Throughout the summer, brood after brood of workers 

 issues from these combs, so that in September they 

 form a plague in the neighbourhood of the colony. 

 Finally a few queens and drones are born, probably 

 by reason of a highly nutritious nitrogenous diet. 



