THE NECTARINIA AN A LIS. 159 



The Myrapetra itself is of variable size, the largest being about 

 four lines in length, and rather more than half an inch in expanse 

 of wing. It is of a dusky brown colour, and is remarkable for 

 having the first joint of the abdomen very much lengthened and 

 narrowed, so that it sometimes resembles the same organ in the 

 Pelopaeus. 



At the left hand of the same illustration may be seen a rather 

 large globular nest, suspended from the boughs. This nest is 

 shown in the position which it usually occupies, namely, hidden 

 in the dark recesses of the Brazilian forest, amid the varied 

 vegetation which grows so profusely in the hot and wet parts of 

 the country which the insect frequents. 



The name of the species which makes this nest is Nedarinia 

 analis^ a title which is significant and appropriate enough, but 

 which is rather unfortunate, inasmuch as it has already been 

 applied to a genus of birds, the well-known honey-suckers of 

 Africa and India, which are so frequently mistaken for humming 

 birds, on account of their small size, their brilHant plumage, 

 their slender beaks, and their fondness for flowers. 



This is not nearly so beautiful a nest as that which has just 

 been described, the combs being devoid of regularity, and piled 

 upon each other, as if the insect had no settled plan on which to 

 work, and put each comb in any place where there happened to 

 be room for it. Irregular, however, as the structure may seem, 

 it is not without a kind of order, for though the combs look as 

 if they had been placed in a heap, and then rolled together, so 

 as to assume a partially spherical shape, they are at all events 

 made with the intention of forming that shape, so that they 

 may be included under a single covering. In the specimen in 

 the British Museum, the outer wall of the nest has been broken 

 away in several places, so as to permit the combs to be seen. 



The entrance for the insects is very small, and when the 

 respective dimensions of the wasp and the nest are taken into 

 consideration, it seems really wonderful that when the inhabitants 

 enter their house, they do not lose themselves in the intricate 

 windings through which they pass from one comb to another. 



