508 



Saw-flies, Gall-flies, Ichneumons, 



chewed-up bits of weathered wood gathered from old fences or outbuildings; 

 "round the swampy edges of ponds or in wet ditches wasps may be seen 

 gathering tough herbaceous filaments which they felt up into a texture 

 stronger and better able to resist the wind and rain than a paper made of 



wood scrapings." The moulding 

 of the pulp at the nest has been 

 observed carefully by Ormerod 

 in the case of two English spe- 

 cies of Vespa "It appeared," 

 says Ormerod, "that when a 

 wasp came home laden with 

 building materials she did not 

 immediately apply these, but flew 

 into the nest for about half a 

 minute, for what purpose I could 

 not ascertain. Then emerging 

 she promptly set to work. 

 Mounted astride on the edge of 

 one of the covering sheets, she 

 pressed her pellet firmly down 

 with her fore legs till it adhered 

 to the edge, and, walking back- 

 wards, continued this same pro- 

 cess of pressing and kneading till 

 the pellet was used up, and her 

 track was marked by a short dark cord lying along the thin edge to which she 

 had fastened it. Then she ran forwards, and, as she returned again back- 



FIG. 714. Pohstes sp. a, nest; b, young larva; 

 c, older larva; d, pupa; e, adult. (All one 

 and one-half times natural size except nest, 

 which is much reduced.) 



FIG. 715. The single-comb nest of a hornet, Polistes sp. (One-half natural size.) 



wards over the same ground, she drew the cord through her mandibles, 

 repeating this process two or three times till it was flattened out into a little 



