74 NATURAL HISTORY 



mode of feeding the young, are nearly the same. This is so much the ease 

 that a history of the one would almost answer for the other. The only 

 difference appears to be size, the hornet being by much the largest : 

 the situation of their nests may differ, although that is often the same 

 in both ; the hornet commonly building its nest in some dry cavity, as 

 in a summer-house, hollow of a tree, &c, while the wasp commonly 

 builds its nest in the ground; sometimes, however, in the hollow of a tree. 

 Hornets are much fewer in number than wasps, although they appear 

 to breed as many young ones. The only reason I can assign for this 

 difference is that the hornet builds its hive in very conspicuous places, 

 and it is therefore much more readily destroyed than that of the wasp. 

 Or, probably, the winter quarters of the queens are less secure. 



Of the Hornet's Hive. — The hive of the hornet is a very regular 

 building ; for as they commonly build in an area where there is room, 

 they are not encumbered. It is commonly attached to some surface which 

 composes the ceiling of the area in which they build. The complete 

 structure is a ball nearly round, but rather longer from top to bottom 

 than from side to side ; from about 12 to 15 inches in diameter. This ball 

 has not a regular smooth surface, but has a great many openings leading 

 obliquely into it, which pass for several inches between what might be 

 reckoned its different coats, and often terminate in a blind end. A 

 section of the outer coat from top to bottom would almost give the idea 

 of its being built with the wafers made by the confectioners. This 

 mode of building gives thickness to this shell ; for from the outside to 

 the inner surface is about an inch and a half; it also gives lightness. 

 The colour of the materials when formed into this shell is a dun or light 

 brown, but not uniformly so ; it is a stratum of lighter and darker 

 alternately, and that pretty regularly. This we can hardly suppose to 

 arise from design, yet its regularity gives that idea. It is extremely 

 bi'ittle ; it will hardly cut with a pair of scissors without chipping, and 

 when wet, it is like wet paper, but not nearly so tenacious, for it can 

 hardly be kept together. 



In this shell are placed horizontal partitions or platforms, one tier 

 above another ; or rather, following the order as they build, one tier 

 below another. These platforms are near an inch from each other, but 

 the lowest two or three are rather at a greater distance than the upper. 

 The uppermost is attached to the under surface of the dome : the second 

 is attached to the under surface of the first by columns that suspend 

 rather than support ; the composition of which is much stronger than 

 that which either composes the outer shell or the platforms, having 

 probably more animal matter mixed with the old wood. The platforms 

 are of a size answering to their situation in the shell ; the largest in the 



