■i44 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



it was desirable to include more than one specimen, the figures 

 are necessarily much reduced in size. Neither the nests nor the 

 insects, however, are of large dimensions, and the former are so 

 sombre in color as well as small in size that they would not of 

 themselves attract any attention. Their nests, however, are ex- 

 tremely interesting, as may be seen from the examples which are 

 figured in the illustration. 



On the left hand may be seen a nearty spherical nest, which is 

 evidently hollow, and has cells both on the outside and within the 

 cover. These cells are not placed vertically, with their mouths 

 downward, like those of the wasp and hornet, nor horizontally 

 like those of the bee, but are set with their mouths radiating from 

 the centre of the nest. Moreover, there is another curious cir- 

 cumstance connected with the nest. If it were to be opened, it 

 would be seen to be composed of several concentric layers, very 

 much like those ivory puzzle-balls which the Chinese make so 

 beautifully. 



The method by which the nest is formed is very simple, though 

 not one that is usually seen among the hymenoptera. The layers 

 of combs are made like hollow spheres, the mouths of the cells 

 being outward, and, as soon as a layer is completed, the insects 

 protect it from the weather by a cover of the same material as is 

 used for the construction of the cells. When they require to 

 make a fresh layer of cells, they do not enlarge the cover, as is 

 the case with the wasp and hornet, but place the new cells upon 

 the surface of the cover, and make a fresh cover as soon as the 

 comb is completed. Thus the nest increases by the addition of 

 concentric layers, composed alternately of comb and cover. 



In the nest which is in the British Museum, the insects have 

 commenced several patches of comb on the outside of the cover, 

 and one such patch is shown in the illustration. 



On the right of the globular nest is another curious structure, 

 also made by insects of the same genus, and having a kind of sim- 

 ilarity in its aspect. This nest, however, is very much longer in 

 proportion to its width, and being fixed throughout its length to 

 a leaf, is not so plainly visible as the last mentioned specimen. 

 Indeed, when the leaf has withered, as is the case with the object 

 from which the drawing was made, the dull brown of the nest co- 

 incides so completely with the color of the faded leaf that many 

 persons would overlook it unless their attention were specially 

 drawn toward it. 



