Entomological Society. 9215 
of sugar. I now collected together, in the best way I could, the workers belonging to 
the nest, and introduced them into the box; they numbered, [ should think, some- 
where about three hundred, and as the box contained only three small pieces of comb 
it was only possible for a limited number to work at them: the consequence was, that 
by far the greater number, after providing themselves with materials, were compelled 
to work wherever they could find room: the wire and all the sides of the box, except 
the glass front, which was frequently being moved, were speedily covered with the 
paper-like fabric the produce of their labours. The insects were placed in the box on 
a Thursday afternoon, and on the following Saturday the work had proceeded, and was 
proceeding so rapidly that I could perceive if, I let them go on till Monday, the box 
would be filled with a mass of work without beauty or design, so 1 determined upon - 
fitting up another box in a somewhat similar way, and causing the insects to pass into 
it from the one they then occupied. I accordingly cut two or three more pieces of comb, 
and passing a wire through them suspended them inside a box (No. 2 of the series) of 
about the same size as the first, and similar thereto in other respects; then by tapping 
upon and shaking box No. 1, I caused most of the insects to leave it and pass but 
through the aperture in the window into the open air, then, by means of a sliding door, 
preventing their immediate return, I took box No. 1 away, and in its place put box 
No. 2; then, withdrawing the slide, the insects crowded into it and with seeming un- 
concern began working away as before. The combs not resting upon the bottom of 
the box, as in the former case, but being raised an inch or two above it, caused the 
workers to form a structure differing considerably from the first. On the following 
Wednesday the work had become so far advanced that I found it necessary to provide 
the workers with a fresh box; a larger one (No. 3 of the series) was therefore procured, 
and fitted up much in the same way as the last, and tlie insects were introduced into 
it in the same way as befure; in seven days a structure somewhat resembling the last, 
_but much larger, was raised, when another box (No. 4 of the series) was procured ; 
this was provided with a moveable wooden back, which, when the building was finished, 
was replaced by one of glass. The box was fitted up in a way quite different from the 
preceding ones: two rows of pillars formed of wire, four in a row, the rows being about 
two inches apart, reaching from the bottom to the top, were placed at regular intervals 
across the box; at the base of each pillar, and also at the top, a small piece of comb 
was fixed. The filling up of this design occupied the insects fifteen days, when another 
box (No. 5 of the series) was procured: this was filted up in a manner differing some- 
what from the last; four pillars were placed across the box, a little behind the middle, 
and two a little in advance, while between the two a short one, three or four inches 
ouly in height, was inserted, at the top of which, but not at the base, a small cireular 
piece of comb was placed, while at the bottom as well as the top of the other columns 
pieces of comb were fixed: the erection of the singularly beautiful structure contained 
in this box only occupied the workers five days, when a fresh one (No. 6 of the series) 
was procured, fitted up in nearly the same style as the last: in other five days they 
raised a structure very similar to the preceding one, when they were shifted into a 
much larger box, fitted up in nearly the same way as the two previous ones had been, 
but the weather becoming cold they did not make progress enough to bring their work 
in this box to anything like perfection. 
“One of the chief objects wasps have in view in their building operations is to 
enclose the combs so as to ensure as high and as uniform a degree of temperature as 
may be,—a thing essential in the hatching of the eggs and the well-being of the larve 
