HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 509 



tity of glue made use of than in the rest of the work, 

 doubtless with the view of giving them a superior solidi- 

 ty. — When the first comb is finished, the continuation 

 of the roof or walls of the building is brought down 

 lower ; a new comb is erected ; and thus the work suc- 

 cessively proceeds until the whole is finished. As a com- 

 paratively small proportion of the society is engaged in 

 constructing the nest, its entire completion is the work 

 of several months : yet, though the fruit of such severe 

 labour, it has scarcely been finished a few weeks before 

 winter comes on, when it merely serves for the abode of 

 a few benumbed females, and is entirely abandoned at 

 the approach of spring ; wasps never using the same nest 

 for more than one season 3 . 



The nests of the hornet in their general construction 

 resemble those of the common wasp, but the paper of 

 which they are composed is of a much more rough tex- 

 ture; the columns which support the comb are higher 

 and more massive ; and that in the centre larger than 

 the rest. 



These last, as well as wasps, conceal their nest, sus- 

 pending it in the corners of outhouses, &c; but there 

 are other species which construct their habitations in 

 open day-light, affixing them to the branches of shrubs 

 or trees. 



One of these, described by Latreille, the work of 

 Vespa holsatipa, F., a species not uncommon with us, 

 resembles in shape a cone of the cedar of Lebanon, and 

 is composed of an envelope and the comb, the former 

 consisting of three partial envelopes, each of the interior 

 a Reaum. vi. Mem. 6. 



