98 FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



The fierce Hornet, chief of the Wasps, builds her nest on 

 the same principle. In the hollow of a willow, or within 

 some empty granary, she makes, out of fragments of wood, 

 a very brittle kind of striped yellow cardboard. Her nest is 

 wrapped round with many layers of this substance, laid on 

 in the form of broad convex scales which are welded to one 

 another. Between them are wide intervals in which air is 

 held motionless. 



The Wasp, then, often acts in accordance with the laws 

 of physics and geometry. She employs air, a non-conductor 

 of heat, to keep her home warm; she made blankets before 

 man thought of it ; she builds the outer walls of the nest in 

 the shape that gives her the largest amount of room in the 

 smallest wrapper ; and in the form of her cell, too, she econo- 

 mises space and material. 



And yet, clever as these wonderful architects are, they 

 amaze us by their stupidity in the face of the smallest diffi- 

 culty. On the one hand their instincts teach them to behave 

 like men of science ; but on the other it is plain that they 

 are entirely without the power of reflection. I have con- 

 vinced myself of this fact by various experiments. 



The Common Wasp has chanced to set up house beside 

 one of the walks in my enclosure, which enables me to experi- 

 ment with a bell-glass. In the open fields I could not use 

 this appliance, because the boys of the country-side would 

 soon smash it. One night, when all was dark and the Wasps 

 had gone home, I placed the glass over the entrance of the 

 burrow, after first flattening the soil. When the Wasps 

 began work again next morning and found themselves checked 

 in their flight, would they succeed in making a passage under 

 the rim of the glass ? Would these sturdy creatures, who 

 were capable of digging a spacious cavern, realise that a very 

 short underground tunnel would set them free ? That was 

 the question. 



The next morning I found the bright sunlight falling on 

 the bell-glass, and the workers ascending in crowds from under- 



