474 nature's teachings. 



Having put into the mould a sufficient quantity of pulp, he 

 shakes the mould so as to spread the pulp evenly over the 

 surface. The water runs away between the wires, the sheet of 

 pulp is transferred to a piece of felt, and when it is dry it 

 becomes paper. If a sheet of ordinary note-paper be held up to 

 the light, the marks of the wires are plainly perceptible. The 

 so-called "water-mark" is due to wires twisted into the 

 requisite shape. 



The Chinese workman makes his paper exactly on the same 

 principle, but the bottom of his mould is made of bulrushes 

 instead of wires. 



As for machine-made paper, the process seems absolutely 

 magical. Endless bands of felt and wire are substituted foi 

 the hand frames, and, the pulp being poured in at one end, 

 the finished paper is poured out at the other, and self- wound on 

 rollers. Without any exaggeration, paper is now made by the 

 mile, the only limit to its length being the size of the rolls. 



When I mention Paper-making in the world of Nature, 

 many of my readers will at once know that I am about to 

 refer to the Wasp tribe. 



These insects were paper-makers long before even the Chinese 

 had invented the art, and, so exactly similar is the mode of 

 action, that man might well have copied from the insect. 



The Wasp gnaws a bundle of vegetable fibres, mostly of 

 wood, sound or decaying, according to the species. It masti- 

 cates them until it has reduced them to a pulp, and then, by 

 means of its jaws, spreads the pulp into sheets of various 

 shapes and sizes. 



With some of the pulp it forms hexagonal cells like those of 

 the bee, and with some it makes the roof-like covering which 

 defends the cells. Not only that, but it can make a sort of 

 papier-mache, which it uses for the flooring, if we may so call 

 it, of the different strata of cells, and for the pillars which 

 bind them together. 



Like our own paper manufacturers, it is economic of material, 

 will re-masticate any superabundant paper, and is only too 

 glad if it can get hold of any paper made by man. I have seen 

 a wasps' nest which was made entirely from the empty blue 

 and white cartridges that were thrown away by soldiers. 



