WASP. 



88. But it is among insects we must look for the most striking 

 manifestations of the architectural instinct. 



The wasp (fig. 24.) affords an example of this, scarcely less in- 

 teresting than the well-known economy of the bee. These little 

 animals, though ferocious and cruel towards their fellow insects, 

 are civilised and polished in their intercourse with each other, and 

 compose a community whose architectural labours will not suffer 

 by comparison even with those of 

 the peaceful inhabitants of the hive. 

 Like the latter, their efforts are 

 directed to the erection of a structure 

 for their beloved progeny, towards 

 which they manifest the greatest 

 tenderness and affection. They con- 

 struct combs consisting of hexagonal 

 cells for their reception; but the 

 substance they use for this purpose 

 is altogether different from wax, 



and their dwelling is laid out upon a plan in many respects 

 different from that of the bee. 



89. Their community consists of males, females, and neuters. 

 At the commencement of spring a pregnant female, which has sur- 

 vived the winter, commences the foundation of a colony destined 

 before the autumn to become a population of some twenty or 

 thirty thousand. The first offspring of this fruitful mother 

 are the neuters, who immediately apply themselves to the 

 task of constructing cells, and collecting food for the numerous 

 members of the family who succeed them; and it is, while 

 engaged in this labour, that they are most disposed to avenge 

 themselves upon all who attempt to molest or interrupt them. 



90. It is not till towards the autumn that the males and 

 females are brought forth, The males as well as the neuter 

 soon die, and the females surviving, seek some place of refuge in 

 which to pass the winter, being previously impregnated. 



91. The nest of the common wasp, generally built under 

 ground, is of an oval form, from sixteen to eighteen inches high, 

 and from twelve to thirteen in diameter. 



Another species builds a nest of nearly the same form, but sus- 

 pends it from the branches of trees ; the size of these suspended 

 nests varying from two inches to a foot in diameter. A section 

 of the underground nest of a common wasp is shown in fig. 25. 



It is a singular fact that the material of which the wasp builds 

 its habitation is paper, an article fabricated by this insect ages 

 before the method of making it was discovered by man. 



With their strong mandibles they cut and tear from any pieces 



153 



