THE RAPHIGASTER GUINIENSIS. 365 



stalk. This insect is a native of Natal Other species of the 

 same group will be mentioned in the course of the following 

 pages. 



In the left-hand upper corner maybe seen a very remarkable 

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

 insect called Mischocyttarns labiatus, which belongs to the family 

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

 to the bough by a slender and tolerably long footstalk, and the 

 mouths of the cells are downwards, 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 

 illustration, 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 

 v/hich 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 ate constructed ; or very much, indeed, as the roadway 

 of a suspension 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 Raphi- 

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

 Western Africa. 



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

 a footstalk. 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 towards the mouth, like a reversed 

 sugar-loaf 



