274 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



which much resembles amadou, and, like that substance, is ex- 

 tremely valuable for stopping violent discharges of blood. 



Another ant, Formica merdicola, rivals the Myrmica Kirbii in 

 the singularity of the material which it uses in the construction 

 of its nest, employing horsedung for that purpose, and fixing its 

 home either on the sterns of reeds, at some distance from the 

 oround, or on the spiny trunks of certain palms. There are also 

 ants which form their nests from vegetable hairs, such as the 

 Formica molestans, which employs extremely minute hairs, and 

 makes with them a nearly globular nest, which is placed in the 

 petioles and vesicles of different plants. 



We now proceed to the third figure in the illustration, placed 

 upon the tree near the centre. This represents the remarkable 

 nest of Abispa Ephippium, an Australian insect, belonging to the 

 wasp tribe. 



The nest is not very large, being about three or four inches in 

 diameter, and rather more in height, exclusive of the entrance 

 tunnel. The material is clay, kneaded and masticated by the in- 

 sect until perfectly plastic, and then moulded into a very remark- 

 able form. 



The exterior view of the nest presents a curious outline, show- 

 ing the pipe through which the insect enters, and which reminds 

 the observer of the tube constructed by several pensile birds. 

 Strange as is the external appearance of the nest, a longitudinal 

 section shows a still more extraordinary construction of the inte- 

 rior. The tube does not merely act as an entrance, but is carried 

 about an inch into the interior of the nest, possibly in order to 

 prevent the young insects from falling out before they are fit to 

 cope with the world. The bottom of the nest through which it 

 passes is nearly flat, and the whole shape of the edifice is not un- 

 like a large clay thimble, with the opening closed by a circular 

 flat cake of hard mud. 



Attached to the ceiling of the nest is a single layer of cells, ar- 

 ranged without any particular order or regularity ; and it is a cu- 

 rious fact, that only a single wasp has been observed in the act of 

 building the nests, or making the interior arrangement. 



This is not the only insect that makes entrance tubes to its 

 nests; for the Trypoxylon aurifrons, a native of the Amazons, has 

 been noticed to build similar entrances, though much shorter. 

 This insect will be again mentioned, under the head of Builders. 



