SOCIETIES OP BIRDS AND INSECTS. 



541 



a small species, however, termed the Republican Grosbeak 

 (Loxia Socia), which lives in numerous societies in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, and constructs its nest 

 tinder a sort of roof which is common to the whole colony 

 (fig. 281). t 



711. It is among Insects that we find the most remarkable 

 examples of this kind of social instinct ; and the structures 

 which are produced by the united labours of a large number, 

 working together in harmony, are extremely interesting. The 

 nests of Wasps are constructed in this manner. In order to 



Fig. 282. NEST OF WASP. 



form the materials for building them, these Insects detach 

 with their mandibles the fibres of old wood, which they convert 

 by mastication into a sort of pulp that hardens into the con- 

 sistence of pasteboard ; of this substance they construct several 

 ranges of hexagonal cells ; and the combs thus formed are 



