CHAPTER XXIII. 



SOCIAL INSECTS. 



An'angement of groups— Nesta of Polybia — Curious method of enlargement- 

 Structure of the nests— How concealed — Various modes of attachment — A 

 curious specimen — The Hive Bee, and its claims to notice — General history of 

 the hive — Form of the cells — The royal cell, its structure and use — Uses of the 

 ordinary cells— Structure of the Bee-cell — Uconomy of space — How produced — 

 Theories of different mathematinians — Measuremeut of augles — A logarithmic 

 table corrected bj' the bee-cell — The " lozenge," a key to tlie cell — How to fonu 

 it — Beautiful mathematic proportions of the lozenge — Method of making the 

 cell or a model — Conjectured analogy between the cell and certain crystals — 

 Effect of the cell upon honey — The Hornet and its nest — Its favourite localities 

 — Difficulties of taking a hornet's nest — Habits of the insect — Mr. Stone's method 

 of taking the nest — The Synceca and its habitation — Beautiful nests in the 

 British Museum — Description of the insect— Nest of the Euchf.iua — Its ex- 

 ternal form — Curious discovery in dissection — A suspended colony — Conjectures 

 respecting the structure — Nest from the Oxford Museum — Remarkable form of 

 its doors, and material of which it is made — The Small Ekmine Moth — and 

 its ravages — Its large social habitation — General habits of the larva — why the 

 sparrow does not eat them — The Gold-tailed Moth, and its beautiful social 

 nest — Description of a specimen from Wiltshire — Illustration of the theory of 

 heat — The Brown-tailed Moth and its nest — Social habitations of the Pe.4.ch 

 and Small Toutoi.seshell Butperflies. 



After the Social Birds come the Social Insects, to which the 

 followiug chapter is dedicated. 



The reader will prohably have noticed that several insects, 

 especially those of the hymenopterous order, seem to have been 

 omitted in previous chapters, although they might fairly claim 

 admission iuto the ranks of Builders, Peusiles, Burrowers, and 

 Subaquatics. The fact is, that some of them unite the charac- 

 teristics of several groups, and may therefore be placed in either 

 of them. For example, the South American wasp, which makes 

 the nest called popularly the " Dutchman's pipe," may be ranked 

 either as a builder, a pensile, or a social insect. In such cases, 

 therefore, I have endeavoured to select that characteristic which 

 seems to be marked most strongly, and have arranged the insects 

 accordingly. 



