PAPER-MAKERS 177 



The first intimation of the existence of honey 

 wasps was made by the Spaniard, Don Azara, who 

 had spent thirteen years in the work of a boundary- 

 delimitation commission in Paraguay at the end 

 of the eighteenth century. His published account 

 of his travels was much criticized because of this 

 statement, and whilst some regarded it as a pure 

 concoction of the Munchausen class, others thought 

 the insects he considered wasps were really bees. 

 When about forty years later specimens of the 

 nests reached this country, and were examined, 

 Dr. Adam White, of the British Museum, found 

 dry honey in the combs, and the reputation of 

 De Azara was rehabilitated. Since then other 

 species of Polybia have been discovered to have 

 the same habit. 



Wasps, however, are not the only paper-makers 

 among these Insect Artizans. A few ants practise 

 the art, among them species of Polyracbis in the 

 tropics of the Old World; also Dolichoderus. 

 Some of the former construct little nests on the 

 surface of leaves. These are paper-like in structure, 

 consisting of a single cavity lined with silk, and 

 serving for the accommodation of a single female 

 and eight or ten workers. For the purpose of 

 making these structures inconspicuous, some species 

 cover their nests with fragments of vegetable 

 matter, or hide them between two leaves. 



Our Carpenter Ant (Lasius fuliginosus) is a 

 cardboard-maker on occasion. If in its excavations 

 a worker has been unmindful of the needs of the 



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