A WALK THROUGH AN ENGLISH LANE. 89 



by no means safe to go within hailing distance of a large 

 nest. Even the exterior of their habitation presents a 

 very different aspect to that of the humble-bee. 



It is a busy scene. Around the entrance are crowd- 

 ing hundreds of yellow and black striped armed warriors, 

 like the Pontifical guard on a small scale some leaving 

 the nest, and others hovering around for a few moments 

 before entering, as if to inquire if all is well. You need 

 not listen at the door of the establishment, for the hum- 

 ming buzz is quite audible, and the waspish temper is 

 proverbial. I saw one nest whose inhabitants used to 

 worry passengers to a great degree, and even attacked 

 horses, and stung one poor animal so severely that it 

 died from the effects of its many wounds. Sometimes 

 a poor field-mouse, overtaken by a storm, runs into the 

 apparently empty hole for shelter, but soon comes 

 running out again, so covered with wasps that it looks 

 like a yellow ball as it rolls down the bank beset with 

 its angry foes. One of my friends, who saw a mouse 

 thus assailed, calculated that from twenty to thirty wasps 

 were at one time on the unfortunate mouse. 



The nest of the wasp ought to be very carefully re- 

 moved, so that its structure may be studied. If the 

 nests of the hive-bee, the humble-bee, and the wasp be 

 compared, they will be found to be made after three 

 different fashions. 



The combs of the hive-bee, are, as is well known, 

 made of wax, secreted in certain little pockets situate 

 in the abdomen. The edges of the cells are strengthened 



