5172 Insects. 



accordingly : it is necessary that an under- ground nest should be pro- 

 tected by a series of layers of delicate tissue ; this is made of the 

 scrapings of sound timber. The layers are spread over each other, 

 and serve admirably to carry off' any droppings of wet, and thus pro- 

 tect the inhabitants of the nest, who would soon perish if exposed 

 to cold and wet, particularly the young brood, which, as well as the 

 perfect wasps, are very susceptible of its influence. 



When, on the contrary, the wasp builds on a beam or shelf, there is 

 no necessity to protect the brood from wet, a certain degree of protec- 

 tion from the changes of temperature is all that is required; there is 

 consequently no necessity for the labour required to make a covering 

 of waterproof tissue, which, as stated above, is fabricated of materials 

 obtained by scraping sound timber ; a different and far more beautiful 

 covering is constructed of decayed wood, the covering having the ap- 

 pearance of being composed of a number of beautiful light brown 

 shells, having darker transverse bands. These beautiful shell-like 

 formations, when immersed in water, are quickly dissolved, and 

 absorb moisture rapidly ; consequently they would not, in any way, 

 answer as coverings to an under-ground nest. As this is well known to 

 the wasp, we may reasonably ask whether the faculty which directs 

 the wasp in these things is not clearly an operation of the mind, and is 

 not the power to construct the beautiful fabrics which we see, a faculty 

 instinctive in the wasp, apart from that which we have been con- 

 sidering above ? Not only is her work perfect in all its parts, but it 

 is performed without teaching and without observation ; the wasp of 

 to-day is not a more skilful architect than the wasp which constructed 

 her dwelling two thousand years ago. 



Having thus briefly sketched the operations of the female wasp in 

 laying the foundation of her colony, and of the manner in which she 

 proceeds in constructing the first comb of the nest, it may perhaps be 

 advisable to state briefly the proceedings which follow in the enlarge- 

 ment and completion of the nest. In the foundation-comb constructed 

 by Vespa rufa, there were thirty cells in different stages of complete- 

 ness ; of the eleven which were completed, four were capped by the 

 full-grown larva?, and seven were about to be closed in, so that in a 

 few days the foundress would have obtained the assistance of four 

 labourers, and seven additional ones in about three weeks after- 

 wards : it is most probable that when this assistance is obtained 

 the mother wasp seldom, or perhaps never afterwards, quits the 

 nest. During the months of July and August a female wasp is seldom 

 seen, and when the colony becomes populous the foundations of 



