Insect Study 4-^^ 



layers which can be easily seen by examining the outside of the nest. 

 These layers may be of different colors. A wasp will come with her load 

 of paper pulp, and using her jaws and front feet for tools she will join a 

 strip to the edge of the paper and pat it into shape. The paper tears more 

 readily along the Hnes of the joining, than across. The cover of the nest 

 is made of many layers of shell-like pieces fastened together and the outer 

 layers are waterproof; the opening of a nest is at the bottom. Mr. Lub- 

 bock has shown that certain wasps are stationed at the door, as sentinels, 

 to give warning on the approach of the enemy. The number of stories of 

 combs in a nest depends upon the age and size of the colony. They are 

 fastened together firmly near the center, by a central core or a.Kis of very 

 strong, firm paper, which at the top is attached to a branch or whatever 

 supports the nest. The cells all open downward, in this respect differing 

 from those of the honey-bee, which are usually placed horizontal. The 

 wasp-comb differs from the honey-comb in that it is made of paper instead 

 of wax, and that the rows of cells are single instead of double. The cells 

 in the wasp-comb are not for storing honey, but are simply the cradles for 

 the young wasps. (See Fig. p, 457.) 



Sometimes a wasp family disaster makes it possible for us to examine 

 one of these nests with its inmates. Here we find in some of the cells, the 

 long white eggs fastened to the very bottom of the cell, in an inner angle, 

 as if a larva when hatched needed to have a cozy corner. These wasp 

 larva; are the chubbiest little grubs imaginable and are very soft bodied. 

 It was once a mystery to me how they were able to hang in the cells, head 

 down, without getting "black in the face" or falling out; but this was 

 made plain by studying the little disk at the rear end of the larva's body, 

 which is decidedly sticky; after a larva is dead, its heavy body can be 

 lifted by pressing a match against this disk; thus it evidently suffices to 

 keep the baby v/asp stuck fast to its cradle. The larva's body is mostly 

 covered with a white, papery, soft skeleton skin ; the head is yellowish and 

 highly polished, looking like a drop of honey. At one side may be seen a 

 pair of toothed jaws, showing that it is able to take and chew any food 

 brought by the nurses. They seem to be well trained youngsters for they 

 all face toward the center of the nest, so that a nurse, when feeding them, 

 can m^ove from one to another v/ithout having to pass to the other side of 

 the cell. It is a funny sight to behold a combful of well grown larvae, each 

 fitting in its cell like meal in a bag and with head and several segments 

 projecting out as if the bag were overflowing. It behooves the wasp 

 larva to get its head as far out of the cell as possible, so that it will not be 

 overlooked by the nurses; the little ones do this by holding themselves at 

 the angle of the cell ; this they accomplish by wedging the back into the 

 corner. These young larvae do not face inwards like the older ones, but 

 they rest in an inner angle of the cell. 



After a larva has reached the limit of its cell room, it spins a veil 

 around itself and fastens it at the sides, so that it forms a lining to^the 

 upper part of the cell and makes a bag over the "head and shoulders" of 

 the insect. This cocoon is very tough, and beneath its loose dome the 

 larva skin is shed; the pupa takes on a decidedly was]nsh form, except 

 that the color is all black; the legs and the wings arc folded piously down 

 the breast and the antenna? lie meekly each side of the face, with the 

 "hands" folded outside of them; the strong toothed jaws are ready, so 

 that when the pupa skin is molted, the insect can cut its silken curtain, 

 and come out into its little nest world, as a full-lledged yellow-jacket. 



