NEST OF THE COIMIMON WASP. 351 



We will take first the Common Wasp {Vespa vulgaris), 

 which may be seen on Woodcut XXXV., and watch it through 

 the process of making its nest. 



In the spring a female Wasp issues from the hiding-place 

 in which she has passed the winter, and begins to search for a 

 suitable locality in which to make her nest. She always 

 chooses for this purpose a hole, such as that of a mouse or rat 

 — generally the former — and, at some distance from the en- 

 trance, sweeps away the earth, so as to form a small rounded 

 chamber. Somewhere in the roof of this chamber there is 

 sure to be a root of some kind, and to this root the Wasp 

 attaches a short pillar of papier-mache, somewhere about one- 

 third of an inch in length. At the lower portion of this pillar 

 she forms a small cell, not a sixth of an inch in length, and 

 after a little while places two others at its side. An egg is 

 then deposited in each cell, and the Wasp proceeds to make a 

 roof over them, shaped just like an umbrella. 



More cells are nOw made, more eggs laid, and the first larvse 

 are hatched, require constant feeding, and grow rapidly, so 

 that, in proportion to their growth, the length of the cell-walls 

 has to be increased. The umbrella-like covering is now too 

 small to serve its purpose, so the Wasp makes a larger one, 

 cutting up and re -masticating the old one. This is always 

 done whenever the nest is enlarged, and it is quite easy to 

 trace the remains of the successive coverings. By this time 

 the larvse are about to change into the pupal state, and each 

 spins a white silken cocoon over the mouth of its cell, thus 

 shutting itself up from all disturbance. It soon passes through 

 its transformations, and then bites its way through the cell- 

 cover and issues into the nest, a perfect insect, ready to take 

 its share in the enlargement of the nest. 



All these early Wasps belong to the workers, and, like the 

 worker-ants, are undeveloped females. They cannot lay eggs, 

 leaving that duty to the original queen, if we may so call her ; 

 but they can, and do, collect materials, masticate them into 

 papier-mache, and build fresh cells. They also scoop away the 

 earth from the chamber and enlarge it, so as to fit it for the 

 increasing nest. 



By this time the number of worker-wasps has increased 

 so much that a second tier of cells is needed for their energies 



