THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 207 



than our domestic bee. If the wax-cakes of the latter ex- 

 hibit cavities of marvellous regularity, the wasp of which 

 we speak is remarkable for the general arrangement of her 

 building. It is composed of regular stages, placed one above 

 another in a species of circular tower. Some of these 

 houses possess as many as fifteen to twenty stages, which 

 all communicate with each other by means of a hole placed 



105. Nest of the Paper-Making Wasp. 



in the centre of each. The cavities which shelter the ar- 

 chitects are placed on the ceiling of each compartment. 

 The entire building of this fly, which ordinarily hangs to a 

 tree, is composed of a kind of brown paste exactly like 

 cardboard, and from this comes the name by which it is 

 known. But we are totally ignorant of the source from 

 which the insect, an inhabitant of Cayenne, draws its ma- 

 terials. 



