588 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



triple nest depending from a branch. This is the work of an 

 insect called Mischocyttarus labiatus, which belongs to the family 

 Polistidaj. Like the nest of the preceding insect, it is attached 

 to the bough by a slender and tolerably long foot-stalk, and the 

 mouths of the cells are downward, as is always the case with 

 these insects. 



Generally the group of cells is single, but occasionally a more 

 perfect nest is found, which, like the specimen figured in the illus- 

 tration, has three distinct cell groups, each pendent from the centre 

 of the group above. This may seem rather a dangerous method 

 of suspending the nest, but it is not more so than that which is 

 employed by the common wasp, which builds tier under tier of 

 cells, hanging each tier from its immediate predecessor by little 

 pillars of the same paper-like material as that of which the cells 

 are constructed ; or very much, indeed, as the roadway of a sus- 

 pension bridge is hung from its arch instead of being placed upon 

 it. The insect itself is smaller than the preceding, and is almost 

 uniformly brown. 



The last of these three groups is particularly entitled to notice, 

 on account of its bearing upon the hexagonal principle, which 

 has been so often mentioned. The name of the insect is Kaphi- 

 GASTER Guiniensis, and, as its name implies, it is a native of 

 Western Africa. 



The nest consists of a group of long cells, and is suspended 

 from a foot-stalk. The material of which the nest is composed is 

 peculiarly soft and flimsy, reminding the observer of the worst 

 and most porous French paper. The cells are so thin that the 

 light shines through their delicate walls, and they are so soft 

 that they yield to the least pressure. Each cell is small at the 

 base, and increases regularly toward the mouth like a reversed 

 sugar-loaf. 



Now, if the real cause of the hexagonal form were to be found 

 in the equal pressure of surrounding cells, the central cells of this 

 group ought to be hexagons, for they are soft, pliable, and their 

 conical form renders them peculiarly liable to be squeezed out of 

 shape. Yet, on examining the nest, we find that all the cells re- 

 tain their conical form, the central cells being as rounded as those 

 on the exterior, and their mouths being as circular. 



These examples entirely destroy both theories. 



In the first instance we have nests of which the cells are per- 



