162 ANIMAL LIFE 
When spring comes each queen builds a small nest sus- 
pended from a tree branch, and consisting of a small comb 
inclosed in a covering or envelope open at the lower end. 
The nest is composed of “ wasp paper,” made by chewing 
bits of weather-beaten wood taken from old fences or out- 
buildings. In each of the cells the queen lays an egg. 
She deposits in the cell a small mass of food, consisting of 
some chewed insects or spiders. From these eggs hatch 
grubs which eat the food prepared for them, grow, pupate, 
and issue as worker. bees, winged and slightly smaller 
than the queen (Fig. 97). The workers enlarge the nest, 
adding more combs and making many cells, in each of 
which the queen lays an egg. The workers provision the 
cell with chewed insects, and other broods of workers are 
rapidly hatched. -The 
community grows in 
numbers and the nest 
grows in size until it 
comes to be the great 
ball-like oval mass 
which we know so well 
as a hornets’ nest (Figs. 
98 and 99), a thing to be 
left untouched. Some- 
times the nest is built 
underground. When 
disturbed, they swarm 
out of the hole and 
fiercely attack any in- 
° : __ vading foe in sight. 
ne tee ree ee “Ati a qumber of 
broods of workers has 
been produced, broods of males and females appear and 
mating takes place. In the late fall the males and all of 
the many workers die, leaving only the new queens to live 
through the winter. 
