46 BEES. 
THE true Wasps, or Vespidz, are gregarious in their habits, building nests 
in which a large but uncertain number of young are reared. The common 
Wasp makes its nest within the ground, sometimes taking advantage of the 
deserted hole of a rat or mouse, and sometimes working for itself. The 
substance of which the nest is made is a paper-like materal, obtained by 
nibbling woody fibres from decayed trees or bark, and kneading it to a paste 
between the jaws. The general shape of the nest is globular, and the walls 
are of considerable thickness, in order to guard the 
cells from falling earth, a circular aperture being left, 
through which the inhabitants can enter or leave 
their home. 
The cells are hexagonal, and laid tier above tier, 
each story being supported by little pillars, made oi 
“a. the same substance as the cells, and all the open 
ends heing downwards, instead of laid horizontally, 
as is the case with the bees. It will thus Le seen 
that, on account of this arrangement, the nuyse- 
wasps are enabled to get at the grubs as they lie, 
or ratner hang, in their cells, with their heads 
downwards. 
The grubs are fat, white, black-headed creatures, very well known to 
fishermen, who find them excellent bait after they have been baked so as to 
render them sufficiently hard to remain cn the hook. When they are about 
to enter the pupal state, they close the meuths of their cells with a silken 
cover, through which the black eyes are plainly visible, and there wait until 
they emerge in the perfect 
state. The grubs are fed 
with other insects, fruit, su- 
gar, meac, or honey, tne 
mingled mass being dis- 
gorged from the stomachs 
of the nurses and thus given 
to their charge, 
There are separate cells 
for males, femzles, and neu- 
ters, the two former classes 
only being produced towards 
the end of autumn, so as to 
keep up a supply for the 
succeeding year. 
_ THERE are, pe. naps, few 
insects so important to man- 
> kind as those which procure 
THE HIVE BEE.—(Afis muliifica.) the sweet substance so well 
known by the name of honey. 
Nearly all the honey-making Hymenoptera are furnished with stings, and in 
many species the poison is fearfully intense. Some of these insects, such 
as the HIVE BEE, make waxen cells of mathematical accuracy, the larve 
being placed in separate cells, and fed by the neuters. 
This useful little creature is so well known that a lengthened description of it 
would be useless. A merely general sketch will be quite sufficient. 
The cells of the Bee are, as is well known, made of wax. This wax is 
secreted in the frm of scales under six little flaps situated on the under side 
of the insect. It is then pulled out by the Bee, and moulded with other 
scales until a tenacious piece of wax is formed. The yellow substance on 
THE WasP.—{( Vespa 
vulgaris.) 
