CHAPTER VI. 



WONDERS OF INSECT ARCHITECTURE : SOCIAL 

 BUILDERS. 



FROM the insect world we may obtain many strik- 

 ing examples of constructive ability, and the erection 

 of wonderful dwellings for the protection of the de- 

 fenceless young and the storage of food supplies. 



Few people have a good word for the Common 

 Wasp, and yet, despite her somewhat irritable temper 

 and her propensity to use her sting at the slightest 

 provocation, she is really a valuable friend to man, and 

 more particularly to the dweller in large towns and 

 cities, for she destroys quantities of house-flies. Now 

 any creature that will destroy the house-fly is doing 

 invaluable service to the town-dweller, for there is no 

 more fruitful distributer of disease germs in our cities 

 than that buzzing, ubiquitous insect. Breeding amidst 

 all sorts of decaying refuse, the adult fly delights to 

 feast upon the filth and garbage of the street, loading 

 its hairy body and limbs with all sorts of disease germs. 

 Fresh from its noisome repast, it will fly in at the open 

 window and take an involuntary bath in the milk jug, 

 or creep about over any food that may be exposed upon 

 the table, in this way carrying disease germs to our 

 food supply. Indeed, the appalling infant mortality 



(i,9io) 65 E 



