210 NATURAL HISTORY OF WASPS. 
off to die, like old cats, away from home; and the 
most unlikely place to find a live wasp in is an old 
wasps’ nest. 
We have now, to complete this part of the 
subject, to inquire how the nests of the several 
species differ respectively from the common type, 
and what are the marks by which we can identify 
them. In the earliest stage of its existence the 
nest, as_a rule, displays nothing very characteristic 
of the particular species. After the examination of 
some dozens of the embryo nests of the common 
British wasps, I must confess that I should have 
great difficulty in referrmg each of these to its 
proper owner. As they grow larger the difficulty 
vanishes, the form of the nest, the details of its 
structure and the materials of which it is composed, 
all, as we shall see, commg to our assistance m 
drawing the distinction. 
The hornet (Plates VI. and VII.) forms her nest of 
a brittle, yellow, thick paper, composed of fragments 
of rotten wood, often mixed with sand, or with any 
thing that can be glued up into a mass. Hornets’ 
nests are not generally as populous as wasps’ nests, 
and the swarm is more economical of its labour. 
They do not always care to cover the comb with a 
distinct case of paper when the cavity in which the 
nest is built might seem to render any additional 
protection unnecessary. However, when the nest is 
built in an open space, as in a roof, the case is quite 
as thick in proportion to the size of the nest as any 
of the smaller wasps would have made it. 
