54 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



nests, which would go to pieces at the first shower of rain. 

 That is why this Wasp is so fond of human dwellings, and 

 especially of the chimney. 



Before receiving its final coating, which covers up the 

 details of the building, the nest has a certain beauty of its 

 own. It consists of a cluster of cells, sometimes arranged 

 side by side in a row which makes it look rather like a 

 mouth-organ but more often grouped in layers placed one 

 above the other. I have sometimes counted as many as 

 fifteen cells ; some nests contain only ten ; others are reduced 

 to three or four, or even only one. 



In shape the cells are not far from cylinders, slightly 

 larger at the mouth than at the base. They are a little more 

 than an inch long, and about half an inch wide. Their 

 delicate surface is carefully polished, and shows a series of 

 string-like projections, running cross-wise, not unlike the 

 twisted cords of some kinds of gold-lace. Each of these 

 strings is a layer of the building ; it comes from the clod of 

 mud used for the coping of the part already built. By count- 

 ing them you can tell how many journeys the Wasp has made 

 in the course of her work. There are usually between fifteen 

 and twenty. For one cell, therefore, the industrious builder 

 fetches materials something like twenty times. 



The mouth of the cells is, of course, always turned upwards. 

 A pot cannot hold its contents if it be upside down. And 

 the Wasp's cell is nothing but a pot intended to hold the 

 store of food, a pile of small Spiders. 



The cells built one by one, stuffed full of Spiders, and 

 closed as the eggs are laid preserve their pretty appearance 

 until the cluster is considered large enough. Then, to 

 strengthen her work, the Wasp covers the whole with a casing, 

 as a protection and defence. She lays on the plaster without 

 stint and without art, giving it none of the delicate finishing- 

 touches which she lavishes on the cells. The mud is applied 

 just as it is brought, and merely spread with a few careless 

 strokes. The beauties of the building all disappear under 



