318 Mr. A. White's Description of a 



sometimes very violent ; they are also so intricately twisted, 

 as to prevent the ingress of any moth or other enemy, at least 

 of any size. The hardness of the whole mass must tend very 

 much to protect its constructor from the attacks of insect or 

 honey-seeking animals ; and the natives, with some degree of 

 probabihty, believe, that feline and other animals are deterred 

 from taking the nest by the pointed knobs with which it is 

 CO veiled ; Mr. Hawkins's correspondent in Buenos Ayres as- 

 sured him of this. 



The substance is hard, the texture close, and, when seen 

 with a slight magnifying power, seems curiously matted*. 

 The natives say that it is principally formed of the dried dung 

 of the " Capincha," which, from the description, would appear 

 to be some sort of Water Cavy. 



On making a longitudinal section of this singular insect- 

 structure down the middle, I found there were fourteen combs 

 in it, exclusively of a globular mass at the top, seemingly the 

 nucleus of the nest ; this is nearly encircled by the two nearest 

 combs. The other twelve are arranged beneath these, the up- 

 permost most nearly approaching a circle in their arrangement 

 as they approximate to the mass at the top. The different 

 " stories " of combs are attached to the common wall of the 

 nest ; the entrances to the various compartments are at the 

 sides, a small irregular-shaped space being left between the 

 comb and the outer envelope in various parts of it. All the 

 combs are covered to the very edge by the cells, except the 

 parts of them that are immediately close to the orifices of the 

 nest, where, if they existed, they would impede the entrance 

 and exit of the inhabitants. The uppermost combs are 

 thickest, being throughout from seven to five Imes in thick- 

 ness, whilst the lower are not half that depth. The cells are 

 small, hexagonal, and, as in other wasps' nests, have the open- 

 ing downwards ; they are formed of a light papery substance, 

 similar in colour to the outer covering. This, as might be 

 expected, is thickest at the top, where, internally, from the 

 meeting of several combs, it is rather loose ; at the base it is 

 thinnest. The knobs are solid throughout, and, like the ex- 

 ternal envelope from which they arise, are formed of nume- 

 rous layers of '' paper" so closely blended as to be hardly di- 



* The structure of paper and pasteboard, as made by insects, would form 

 an interesting subject of investigation. In several specimens which I have 

 had an opportunity of examining under a powerful microscope, there seem 

 to exist great differences, some consisting of particles of wood or other ve- 

 getable substances, simply agglutinated ; while in othei's these particles ap- 

 pear to have undergone a change within the body of the insect or some other 

 animal, and to have lost all traces of their vegetable origin ; others again, 

 as in the present instance, seem to combine both. 



