L66 



ZOOLOGY. 



fection of their construction. Wasps detach, by means of their 

 mandil>le>. parcels <>t' old wood, which they convert into a kiud 

 of pa>te resembling pasteboard, with which they construct 

 rows ..f hexa-onal cells; thoe rows are placed parallel to 

 each other, and at certain distances sup)>orted by pillars, 

 which serve also to suspend them ; finally, the whole is placed 

 sometimes in the air, at others in the hollow of a tree, or 

 even underground, according to the species, exposed or en- 

 dosed in a common covering (Fig. 112). 



Fig. 111. Nest of the Republican. 



332. Community of labour is the great feature in the 

 history of the bee; but the bee, in its relations to the work- 

 ing bee and the queen bee, shows other instincts not less re- 

 markable. 



The domestic bees, originally from Greece, but since spread 

 all over the world, live in colonies composed of ten to thirty 

 thousand neutral or working bees, of from >i\ to eight hun- 

 dred males called drones, and of a single female, which seems 

 to reign as queen. They establish their dwellings in the 

 trunk of some ancient tree, or in the hive which man prepares 



