November, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



441 



found fresh colonies in the year to come. But as each seeks 

 out her lonely hiding-place, she seems more like a wretched 

 outcast than the royal mother of a future kingdom. 



A word as to the age of the wasp. It is not possible to 

 say how long, in favorable circumstances, a hive bee may 

 live; but the limits of a wasp's life are precisely known. 

 Drones enjoy only a few weeks of idle existence. Born in 

 the late summer, they die at the approach of winter. 

 Worker wasps, provided no accident befall them, may also 

 live until the winter, so that a lucky individual who left her 

 cell in the early days of June may live for almost five 

 months ere she succumbs to the effects of cold, hunger, and 

 extreme old age. Queens — the founders of kingdoms- 

 are born at the height of one summer and continue until 

 the close of the next; and a queen might thus, at her death, 

 be fourteen or even fifteen months old. 



One would imagine that insects as alert and courageous 

 as wasps would contrive to hold all assailants at bay. Yet 

 they are cruelly victimized by a strange beetle parasite. 



The creature, with instinctive cunning, lays its eggs upon 

 old wood. When the tiny larvs hatch, they lie in wait until 

 a wasp comes to gather fiber, spring upon her, and are thus 

 carried to the nest. Each little rascal then makes its way 

 into a wasp cell, and, fixing upon the grub which is the right- 

 ful owner, begins deliberately to suck its juices. So care- 

 fully, however, does the parasite regulate its appetite that 

 the wasp grub still preserves sufl^cient strength to spin the 

 silken cap over its cell. But this is the signal for the in- 

 truder to consummate its dark deed. The wasp grub h 

 literally sucked dry, and the now fully nourished beetle 

 larvse completes its metamorphosis in the stolen cell, repos- 

 ing upon the empty skin of its victim. 



Although the wasp nurses constantly investigate the cells 

 when they come to feed their charges, they never seem to 

 discover the parasites. Yet when the perfect beetle 

 emerges, it has to run the gauntlet of the whole colony in 

 order to escape from the nest. For the wasps now recognize 

 it as an intruder, and display a fitting hostility. 



The Mirror 



By Esther Singleton 

 Contined from page 437 



sconces in burnished gold, glass bordered and mahogany and 

 black walnut frames, with gilt ornaments of all sizes. 



In 1769 iVIinshall, a carver and gilder from London, 

 settled in Dock Street and had carved frames for glasses; 

 and by the end of the century he had built up a big busi- 

 ness in this special line. In 1775 Minshall's Looking-glass 

 Store in Hanover Square, opposite Mr. Goelet's Sign of 

 the Golden Key, advertised "an elegant assortment of 

 looking-glasses. In oval and square ornamental frames; 

 ditto mahogany. Also an elegant assortment of frames 

 without glass. 



Any Lady or Gentleman that has glass in old fash- 

 ioned frames may have them cut to ovals, or put In 

 any pattern that pleases them best. The above frames 

 may be finished white, or green and white, purple, or any 

 other color that suits the furniture of the room, or gilt in 

 oil, or burnished gold equal to the best imported." 



The mirror as a part of the dressing-table Is compara- 

 tively modern. In the middle of the Eighteenth Century 

 the little oval, shield-shaped, or square glass that stood 

 upon one or two drawers, was a separate piece of furni- 

 ture and was placed on a chest of drawers or shaving-stand. 

 Sheraton and Heppelwhite frequently added looking-glasses 

 to their dressing-tables and shaving-stands, but usually 

 connected them In drawers with mechanism that allowed 

 them to be elevated or hidden at pleasure. In the Empire 

 period the mirror often formed a part of the dressing- 

 table and the cheval, or glass on a horse frame, also be- 



came popular In the dressing-room. 



Our Illustrations show several examples of this period 

 taken from old homes in various parts of the country, both 

 North and South. Fig. i, dating from the middle of the 

 Eighteenth Century, Is a mahogany frame with gilt 

 ornaments. 



The husks at the sides are gilt and also the rosettes 

 that ornament the swan-necked pediment between which Is 

 placed the rather scraggy bird that was such a favorite 

 with Chippendale and his school. Fig. 2 is a simpler mir- 

 ror In two parts, adorned with a small gilt device. Fig. 

 3 Is a looking-glass of walnut and gilt frame, with a gilt 

 urn between the broken pediment. Fig. 4 is an oval mir- 

 ror of the Heppelwhite period, the border of which Is 

 gilt with glass panels. The old Chippendale, or Louis XV 

 scroll, still lingers as a motive of decoration. This scroll 

 is more apparent in Fig. 5, where the draped urn also ap- 

 pears — a motive that was not used by Chippendale. This 

 border Is, therefore, an interesting combination of the old 

 and new fashions. Fig. 6 is still earlier with a panel at 

 the top for a picture or any other decoration desired. 

 Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 are early Nineteenth and late Eighteenth 

 Century pieces. The latter Is of the Heppelwhite school 

 and accords perfectly with the little Heppelwhite table 

 beneath It. 



A handsome Louis XV mirror at the Chateau de Saint- 

 Germain-en-Laye had a glass 28 inches high and 21 inches 

 wide framed in a border of carved leaves. 



