ARCHITECTURE. 211 
The outer cases of wasps’ nests are made on one 
of two general plans, which may be called the 
cellular or laminar respectively. Hornets’ nests, like 
those of V. vulgaris and V. germanica, are made on the 
former plan. A transverse section shows the entire 
thickness to be built up of segments of circles 
applied irregularly one over the other, somethmg in 
the way that semicircular tiles are built into orna- 
mental walls for suburban villa gardens. Hunter,* 
says:—‘ A section of the outer coat from top to 
bottom would almost give the idea of its being 
built with the wafers made by the confectioners.” 
By this mode of construction a number of tunnels 
or, more correctly, long cuwls de sac are made, gene- 
rally running parallel to the vertical axis of the 
nest. The outside of the nest is uneven with the 
openings of these tunnels, which are all directed 
downwards; but the inside is smooth, with a clear 
way all round between the case and the combs. The 
nest is most commonly-of an oval form, with the 
long axis vertical. 
Everything, of course, is on a very large scale, as 
compared with the nests of the smaller species. 
Taking the measures from a large specimen in my 
cabinet, which had been built in a cottage roof in 
Gloucestershire, these quite eclipse the proportions 
of the ordinary wasps’ nests. The transverse dia-~ 
meter is fifteen inches, and the vertical measure is 
as much as nineteen, although full three inches or 
more have been taken off the bottom of the nest. 
The span of some of the longitudinal cells or tunnels 
is six inches, and their average width is not less than 
* Hunter ‘ Posthumous Works,’ by Owen, Vol. I, p. 74. 
Bem 
