THE FIRST PAPER-MAKER 



177 



ance to the insect ; and both wasps and bees have 

 therefore elaborate brushes for keeping these valu- 

 able organs clean and neat and in working order. 

 They always remind me of the brushes I use myself 

 for cleaning the type in my typewriting machine. 

 The antennae-brush of the wasp is fixed on one 

 of her legs ; its precise situation on the leg as 

 a whole is shown in the little upper diagram ; 

 its detail and various parts are 

 further enlarged below. To the 

 left is the coarse or large-tooth 

 comb ; to the right is the brush ; 

 and above the brush, connected 

 with the handle by an exceed- 

 ingly thin and filmy membrane, 

 is the fine-tooth comb, used for 

 removing very small impurities. 

 With this the wasp cleans her 

 precious feelers much as you 

 may have seen flies clean their 

 wings when they have fallen 

 in a jam-pot ; only the wasp's 

 mechanism is much more beau- 

 tiful and perfect. 



Almost equally interesting with the brush and 

 comb are the series of tucks in the wasp's body 

 or abdomen, delineated in No. 17. By means of 

 these extraordinarily flexible rings, each held in 

 place or let loose by appropriate muscles, the 

 wasp can twist her body round so conveniently 

 that, no matter how carefully and gingerly you 

 hold her, she will manage to sting you. They 



M 



NO. 17. TUCKS IN THE 

 SEGMENTS. 



