OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



353 



themfelves fixing the neft to the top and fides of the hive by pillars 

 of paper fimilar to thofe which fijpport the different ftories or ftrata 

 of combs; others repair the breaches it hasfuftained; and others 

 fortify it by augmenting confiderably the thicknefs of its external 

 cover. This external envelope is an operation peculiar to wafps. 

 Its conftrudlon requires great labour ; for it frequently exceeds an 

 inch and a half in thicknefs, and is compofed of a number of ftrata 

 or layers a? thin as paper, between each of which there is a void 

 fpace. This cover is a kind of box for inclofing the combs, and de- 

 fending them from the rain which occafionally penetrates the earth. 

 For this purpofe it is admirably adapted. If it were one folid mafs, 

 the contact of water would penetrate the whole, and reach the 

 combs. But, to prevent this fatal effe<fl:, the animals leave confide- 

 rable vacuities between each vaulted layer, which are generally fif- 

 teen or fixteen in number. By this ingenious piece of architecture, 

 one or two layers may be moifteued with water, while the others 

 are not in the leaft affeded. 



The materials employed by wafps in the conftrucllon of their 

 nefts are very different from thofe made ufe of by the honey-bee. 

 Inftead of coUeding the farina of flowers, and digefting it Into wax, 

 the wafps gnaw with their two fangs, which are ftrong and ferrated, 

 fmall fibres of wood from the fafhes of windows, the pofts of efpa- 

 llers, garden doors, &c. but never attempt growing or green timber. 

 Thefe fibres, which, though very flender, are often a line, or a 

 twelfth part of an inch long. After cutting a certain number of 

 them, the animals colled them into minute bundles, tranfport them 

 to their neft, and, by means of a glutinous fubftance furnlfhed from 

 their own bodies, form them into a molft and dudlle pafte. Of 

 this fubftance, or papier mache, they conftrud the external cover, 

 the partitions of the neft, the hexagonal cells, and the foiid columns 

 which fupport the feveral layers or ftories of combs.. 



t Yy The 



