FEBRUARY 299 



with neither the capacity nor the inclination 

 for raising families of their own. So they 

 build a new and larger comb, hanging it 

 beneath the old one. For in this com- 

 munity the top story is built first, and each 

 additional one is put under the last, until 

 the cold weather of fall brings the process 

 to an end, though often not before four or 

 five stories have been added. Of course, 

 the old enveloping walls are not able to hold 

 all this. So with each extension the wasps 

 tear pieces from the inside of the wall, chew 

 them into pulp, and add them again to the 

 outer side. In this way the walls keep 

 moving outward to accommodate the grow- 

 ing family. As the season advances the 

 colony increases in numbers until by fall 

 there may be a thousand inhabitants of the 

 one great nest. 



THE RESULT OF WINTER 



Cold weather coming on finds the old 

 queen now well provided with subjects, all 

 her own children. The very great majority 

 of them are the undeveloped females, who 



