NATURAL HISTORY. " 45 



so as to make a litle ball exactly like the 

 wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was 

 the stuff out of which the wasp made paper, and 

 it has since been found out that he was right. 

 The animal wets its little bundle of bruised 

 wooden fibres or threads with a kind of glue 

 that it has, and this makes it stick together 

 like pulp or paste ; and while it is soft, the 

 wasp walks backwards, and spreads it out 

 with her feet and her tongue, until she has 

 made it almost as thin as the thinnest paper. 

 With this she lines the top of the hole in 

 which she is going to build her nest, for she 

 always begins at the top. But this is so thin 

 that it would be too weak to keep the dirt 

 from falling in ; and therefore she goes on 

 spreading her papers one upon the other 

 until she has made the wall nearly two inches 

 thick. These pieces are not laid exactly flat 

 on each other like two pieces of pasteboard, 

 but with little open spaces between, being 

 joined at the edges only. This is the ceiling ; 

 and when it is finished she begins to build 

 what may be called the highest floor of the 

 nest ; this she makes of the same paper in a 

 great number of little cells all joined together 

 at the sides ; and instead of fastening this 



