282 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 
entangled, it pushes them under its body by means of the first pair of legs ; 
the intermediate pair receives the moss, and delivers it to the last, which 
protrudes it as far as possible beyond the anus. When by this process the 
insect has formed behind it a small ball of well-carded moss, the next bee 
pushes it to the third, which consigns it, in like manner, to that behind it ; 
and thus the balls are conveyed to the foot of the nest, and from thence 
eleyated to the summit much in the same way that a file of labourers trans. 
fer a parcel of cheeses from a vessel or cart to a warehouse.’ It is easy 
to perceive that a vast saving of time must ensue from this well-contrived 
division of labour; the structure rising much more reat than if every 
individual had been employed first in carding his materials, and then in 
transferring them to the spot. 
Wasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their fellow-insects, are 
civilised and polished in their intercourse with each other, and form a 
community whose architectural labours will not suffer on comparison even 
with those of the peaceful inhabitants of a bee-hive. Like these, the great 
object of their industry is the erection of a structure for their beloved pro- 
geny, towards which they discover the greatest tenderness and affection, 
and they even, in like manner, construct combs consisting of hexagonal 
cells ‘for their reception ; but the substance which they make use of is very 
dissimilar to the wax employed by bees ; and the general plan of their city 
differs in many respects from that of a bee-hive. 
The common wasp’s nest, usually situated in a cavity underground, is of 
an oval figure, about sixteen or eighteen inches long by twelve or thirteen 
broad. Externally, it is surrounded by a thick coating of numerous leaves 
of a sort of greyish paper, which do not touch each other, but haye a 
small interval between each, so that if the rain should chance to penetrate 
one or two of them, its progress is speedily arrested. On removing this 
external covering, we perceive that the interior consists of from twelve to 
fifteen circular combs of different sizes, not ranged vertically as in a bee- 
hive, but horizontally, so as to form so many distinct and parallel stories. 
Each comb is composed of a numerous assemblage of hexagonal cells 
formed of the same paper-like substance as the exterior covering of the 
nest, and, according to Dr. Barclay, each, as in those of bees, a distinct 
cell, the partition walls being double.? These cells, which, as wasps do 
not store up any food, serve merely as the habitations of their young, are 
not, like those of the honey-bee, arranged in éwo opposite layers, but in one 
only, their entrance being always downwards : consequently their upper part 
of the comb, composed of the bases of cells, which are not pyramidal 
but slightly convex, forms a nearly level floor, on which the inhabitants 
can conveniently pass and repass, spaces of about half an inch high being 
left between each comb. Although the combs are fixed to the sides of the 
nest, they would not be sufficiently strong without further support. The 
ingenious builders, therefore, connect each comb to that below it by a 
number of strong cylindrical columns or pillars, having according to the 
rules of architecture their base and capital wider than the shaft, and com- 
posed of the same paper-like material used in other parts of the nest, but 
of a more compact substance. The middle combs are connected by a rustic 
1 Reaum., vi. 7—10. 
2 Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, ii. 260, 
