Insects. 5173 



cells must be constructed rapidly, the mother wasp being then 

 occupied in laying eggs alone. Each cell, on the young and 

 perfect wasp quitting it, is cleared out and prepared for a fresh tenant. 

 We have seen that in the foundation of a cell the walls are not raised 

 more than about two lines before an egg is deposited in it, and that the 

 superstructure is raised simultaneously with the growth of the larva. 

 But how does the wasp proceed in the case of a finished cell ? the 

 same gifted intelligence which prompted her to choose the situation in 

 which to construct her nest, teaches her, that if her egg was dropped to 

 the bottom the young grub must perish, as the wasps could not get at 

 them to give them aliment; the careful mother therefore attaches the 

 egg to one of the angles of the cell, at the same distance from its ori- 

 fice as in the case of the foundation of a cell : the young grub on being 

 hatched retains the same position as the egg, and grows downwards 

 instead of upwards. The completion of a nest is a repetition of the 

 above mode of procedure. 



Having thus completed a sketch of the manner in which wasps 

 build their nests, we may next endeavour to ascertain to what extent 

 it refutes or supports a few of the more remarkable theories which have 

 been promulgated. It will no doubt appear to many who have not 

 practically studied the subject, that the endeavour to furnish a reason 

 why the bee builds hexagonal cells, from the fact of her eyes, when 

 magnified, being found to consist of a mesh of hexagons, has not only 

 ingenuity but also much apparent probability to recommend it : those 

 who have paid attention to the structure of insects at once reject the 

 inference, since many of the solitary Hymenoptera, having eyes simi- 

 larly constructed, build circular cells. 



To the absurd theory of the hive-bee constructing cylinders, which, 

 pressing upon each other, necessarily take the hexagonal form, the 

 proceedings of the wasp appear to us to furnish a sufficient refutation, 

 had not its untenableness been long ago demonstrated. The theory of 

 cylindrical cells being first erected, and then cut away, so as to form 

 hexagons, is quite as definitively met by a negative, when we reflect 

 upon the operation of the wasp : here we see a single individual com- 

 pleting seven hexagonal cells, and laying the foundation of many 

 others, as perfect in their form and as exquisitely finished as if 

 they had been the work of the united labour of a number of 

 individuals : here we have no two wasps working opposite to 

 each other, which has been supposed necessary in the case of the 

 hive-bee. The thickness, form and height of the walls of the cells 

 are all fashioned and erected by the parent wasp, she adapts the 



