Wonders pf Insect Architecture. 



ing roof of a farm building. The little round nest, offen 

 slightly pear-shaped, is a very beautiful structure, its 

 outer covering or envelope being made up of a perfectly 

 smooth gray paper, which is slightly shiny and flexible, 

 and quite impervious to water, so that the larvae within 

 the nest are kept snug and dry, no matter how violent 

 the summer showers. As in the case of the Common 

 Wasp, it is the Queen-Mother Wood Wasp who, after 

 her long winter sleep, comes forth and begins the build- 

 ing of the nest. She selects the site and forms the 

 foundations of the nest, working up the wood pulp 

 with her jaws, mixing it with saliva, and spreading and 

 moulding it to the required shape. In the middle of 

 the nest she forms a thick column, sustaining a single 

 comb, which is generally composed of from eight to 

 twelve cells. This work completed, she deposits an egg 

 in each cell ; and when the resulting larvae have hatched 

 and successfully passed through their transformations, 

 they become her workers and nurses. These workers 

 now enlarge the first comb by adding new cells around 

 it. Then they set to work and construct a second 

 comb, attaching it to the first by two or three pillars, 

 and in this way a succession of combs which may total 

 to six tiers will be constructed, the number depending 

 on the increase of the population of the nest. The 

 whole is covered with three paper envelopes placed 

 one over the other, which are never attached to the 

 combs, but form a perfect waterproof protection, with 

 an opening at the base of the nest sufficiently large to 

 permit the wasps to come and go with ease about their 

 business. 



A wasp having a long slender body, and the first 



