602 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



We will now examine these nests, and see where they agree 

 with and differ from each other. 



In the first place, their upper surfaces are more or less convex, 

 according to their size ; and whether they are circular or hexag- 

 onal, the convexity remains the same. This form is evidently 

 intended for the purpose of making them weather-proof, for the 

 rain torrents that occasionally deluge the country would soon 

 wash to pieces any nest whereon the falling drops could make 

 a lodgment. The surface is therefore as smooth as that of the 

 various pasteboard wasps which build in the forests of tropical 

 America. 



The upper surface being convex, it naturally follows that the 

 under surface is concave, inasmuch as the cells are of tolerably 

 equal length. In fact, the nests somewhat resemble very shallow 

 basins with very thick sides, and bear an almost startling resem- 

 blance to the cap of a very large and very well-shaped mushroom, 

 the central specimen being so fungus-like in form that, if it were 

 laid on the ground in a waste and moist spot, it would soon be 

 picked up as a veritable mushroom. The color, too, is yellowish- 

 brown, and the surface has a kind of semi-polish that increases 

 the resemblance. 



In the nests of our common wasp, or hornet, the sheets of paper 

 which form the exterior show plainly where each successive flake 

 has been deposited, and the sweep of the insect's jaws is marked 

 distinctly upon the yielding material. Even in the case of the 

 few British species which build pensile nests in the open air, the 

 separate flakes can be distinguished, though they are not so clear- 

 ly marked as in those homes which are defended from the weath- 

 er by earth or wood. Our temperate region knows no such sud- 

 den vicissitudes of weather as take place near the equator, and 

 there is no need for insect habitations to possess very great 

 strength or powers of resisting water. But in these nests the 

 cover is so beautifully uniform, that no trace of a jaw can be de- 

 tected upon it. 



Agreeing in general appearance, the nests vary somewhat in 

 color. Of the eight specimens, the generality are of the mush- 

 room-like hue which has already been mentioned. Others, how- 

 ever, rather vary in this respect, and the uniform yellowish-brown 

 is pleasingly diversified by patches of red. One of the nests, how- 

 ever, boldly departs from the general uniformity, the surface be- 

 ing not only reddish-brown over its whole extent, but as rough 



