276 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



species of the Social Wasps, the best known of which, as 

 the common Wasp, build their nests of a stout brown 

 paper, which they manufacture from bits of wood and 

 bark. Like the paper-maker among men, they reduce 

 their material to a pulp, and then spread jto out thinly, 

 which, drying speedily, becomes firm paper. In Fig. 

 214 you see the arrangement of the nest of the Social 



Fig. 214. 



Wasps. Each floor of cells hangs from the floor above 

 it by rods. At a a is the outer wall, made of many lay- 

 ers of brown paper ; at b and c are five terraces of cells 

 for the neuter Wasps ; and at d and e are 

 three rows of larger cells for the males 

 and females. In Fig. 215 is a representa- 

 tion of a portion of one of these terraces, 

 with its rod. 



472. The family Fonnicidse, or Ants, 

 Fig. 215. are placed in a different order from the 



