INSECT HOMES. 



By L. D. Cleare, Jnr., F.E.S. 



The habit of building homes either for the protection of their 

 young or as shelters for themselves, so often found among the higher 

 animals, is quite as pronounced in the insect world and serves the same 

 ends as in the higher forms. 



Homes, as we understand them, to accommodate both parents and 

 offspring, are not often found in the insect world. Insect ' homes ' 

 may be divided into several classes, both according to the type of 

 dwelling and stage of development. 



Some of these homes are mere hiding places for a stage of the insects 

 formed by themselves, such as the ' nests ' of some Lepidopterous larvae, 

 — made by drawing together a few leaves. The far more common type 

 however, is made by the parents for the protection of their young 

 or by the larvae for the protection of their helpless pupae. With 

 these homes the parents usually have no further connection 

 after provisioning them with food for the young. An excep- 

 tion, however, can be found in the fossorial wasps of the Family 

 Bembecidae, locally known as 'cowfly tigers,' for here the parent supplies 

 the larva with fresh flies until it pupates. 



The nearest type to a home as we understand it is probably found 

 among the leaf-cutting or ' coushi ' ants (Atta cephalotes L. et spp.) 

 though, in this case, it will probably be compared to a city on account of 

 its large size. Here a number of individuals of different types are 

 accommodated but they are all of the same parents. This is probably 

 the highest development of the ' home ' amongst insects. 



The material used in the construction of the homes is usually either 

 vegetable, parts or the products of plants, or substances such as earth, 

 clay and stones, and while these are often worked up by the insects they 

 are sometimes used in their natural state. In special cases, however, the 

 material may be made entirely of some secretion of the insects themselves 

 such as the wax cells of bees and the silken cocoons of a number of 

 insects. 



This habit of home-building appears in a large number of the Orders 

 of insects, but probably reaches its greatest development among the 

 ants, bees and wasps (Order Hymenoptera). We will therefore begin by 

 considering the homes of this group. 



Probably the most familiar of these homes are the nests of the social 

 wasps. The large pendant nests of Montezumia niyriccps Spin, are 

 familiar objects in this country and are constructed of a very 

 brittle papery substance ; they are usually 9-12 inches in length but 

 may measure as much as 3 feet 6 inches long. The nests of thi6 

 species are cylindrical with the entrance at the bottom. 



