HYMENOPTERA : WASPS. I47 



Other insects. They build nests under ground, or in 

 holes, or attach them to bushes, trees, fences, or build- 

 ings. The nest is usually made of a substance which 

 they gnaw from wood, and which, by the action of their 

 jaws, they reduce to a pulp, which hardens into a sort 

 of paper. The Wasps were the first paper-makers, and 

 they were the first to show that paper can be made of 

 wood. The combs lie horizontally in the nest, are 

 made of the same paper-like material as the nest, and 

 each is attached to the one below it by a sort of pillar. 

 The cells contain no honey, but are built for places in 

 which to rear the young. The colony is dissolved on 

 the approach of winter, the males die, and the females 

 seek a sheltered winter retreat. Each female that sur- 

 vives the cold founds a new colony in the spring, build- 

 ing a few cells and laying her eggs, from which are 

 hatched only workers. These assist the parent, and at 

 length, in autumn, three generations have been pro- 

 duced, the last composed of males and females, and the 

 nest has grown from a few cells to one containing 

 thousands. The Hornet is one of the largest of the 

 Wasps, and was brought to this country from Europe. 

 Some kinds of Wasps build open nests of a few 

 cells, and attach them to some object by a short stem. 

 Other kinds build their nests of mud, and store them 

 with insects for the food of the larvae ; these are the 

 Mud Wasps. They have the hind body joined to the 

 thorax by a long stem or pedicel, and their color is 

 shining blue, or black, or black and orange, or brown 

 and red. One of the black and orange Mud Wasps 

 built two beautiful mud cells in the corner of my 

 room. She worked very industriously and rapidly, 

 building a cell in a few hours. Flying in at the open 



