CHAPTER XIV. 



PENSILE INSECTS 



The Hymenoptera — Australian Insects — ^The Ceematogasteb and Negro-head 

 — ^The Green Ant, its Habits and Nest — An African species — Pensile Ants of 

 America — The Abispa, and its remarkable Nest — Ingenious entrance — The 

 Tat0a, or Dutchman's Pipe— Structure and Shape of its Nest — Firmness of 

 the Walls — Average number of Cells in each Tier — The Common Wasp as a 

 Pensile Insect — Gigantic Nest — Union of three Colonies — Character of the 

 Wasp — The Norwegian Wasp — Structure and Locality of its Nest — Classi- 

 fication of the Wasps — The Campanular Wasp and the Northern Wasp — 

 The Chartergus or Pasteboard Wasp— Mode by which the Nest is suspended 

 — Method of Stmcture — Meaning of the Name — Enormous Nest from Ceylon — 

 Various Wasp Nests — The Polistes as a Pensile Insect— Singular Nest in the 

 British Museum — The Gibbous Ant — Honey Wasps, the general characteristics 

 of their Nests — The Myrapetra— Its singular Nest — Structure of the Walls 

 and use of the Projections — The Nectarinia — Why so called — Locality of 

 the Nest — Size of the Insect— The Trigona and its Nest — Ichneumon Flies — 

 Different species of Microgaster, and their Habitations-^The Perilitus — 

 Weevils — Beautiful Cocoon of Cionus — The Emperor Moth and its Home — 

 The Atlas Moth and other Silk Producers — The Housebuilder Moth and its 

 movable Dwelling — The Tiger Moth and its Hammock — The Cypress- 

 Spurge Moth — Various Leaf-rollers — Suspended Cocoon — Leaf-buerowers 

 and their Homes — ^The Spider. 



We now leave the birds, and proceed to the insects which make 

 pensile nests. Some of them, such as those which will be first 

 described, do not become pensile architects until they have 

 attained their perfect state ; while many others form their nests, 

 either as a place of refuge during their larval life, or as an 

 asylum in which they can rest while in the transition state of 

 pupa. 



Just as the Hymenoptera are the best burrowers, so are they 

 the best insect artizans when the nests are suspended, and we 

 shall therefore take them first in order. The reader will probably 

 recall to mind during the perusal of the following pages, that 

 several admirable examples of pensile nest-makers are not 

 mentioned. The reason for their temporary omission is, that 

 some of them make their nests of mud, and will therefore be 

 described under the head of Builders ; while others make their 



