152 CtmiOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



the cells in honeycomb ; and, lastly, they are made of 

 paper instead oi wax. 



In some cases, as that shown in the illustration, 

 the nest consists of a single comb held in place with 

 one or more stout stems, and is open to the air. This 

 is the nest of the polistes wasp ; in others there is a 

 series of combs placed one above the other, and the 

 whole is covered by a shell or case consisting of a 

 number of thicknesses of paper. 



The nests are suspended from the branches of 

 bushes or trees. Each cell in a comb is occupied by 

 an egg, and when the grub hatches it hangs head 

 downward in its cell, except when the cell opens up- 

 ward. At first the grub is fastened in its place with 

 a sort of glue supplied by the workers, but it soon 

 grows so fat that it fits in the cell too tightly to fall 

 out. It receives constant attention from the workers 

 and females, and is fed with nectar and the juices of 

 fruits, and insects (for wasps are meat- as well as fruit- 

 eaters), and by more solid food chewed fine by its 

 nurses before feeding. 



When the young wasp enters the winged state and 

 leaves its place the cell is thoroughly cleaned out and 

 another egg deposited in it. It takes about a month 

 from the time the egg is laid to that in which the per- 

 fect insect leaves the cell, so that it can be used several 

 times during a season. Tlie perfect females, or queens, 

 and the males are not developed until late in the season. 



Both nests shown in the illustration belong to the 

 polistes wasp, the one in the ellipse a European and 

 the other a South American variety. 



