11 
stance of their being suspended from that species of 
pine. The larch, which they seem to prefer, af- 
fords less protection than almost any other tree; 
but from the nature of the materials of which the 
nest is composed, they are nearly independent of 
shelter either from heat or wet. 
It was not till Reaumur had devoted many years 
to the study of insects, that he succeeded in disco- 
vering the nature of the materials employed by 
wasps in forming their habitations. It is unneces- 
sary to repeat his interesting account, as it has been 
copied into almost every subsequent work on the 
subject’. He asserts that the wood which they 
prefer for that purpose is such as has been long 
exposed to the weather, and is old and dry. White’, 
of Selborne, and Kirby and Spence", on the con- 
trary, maintain that they make use of sound timber 
only. I have often observed wasps in the act of 
collecting materials from fir wood, but not from any 
other species, and this was never in a state of ad- 
vanced decay, but nearly in the condition described 
by Reaumur. The paper of which the ground wasp 
forms its nest is more friable than that used by the 
other species, and some nests are of a much more 
yellow tint than others, and in fact resemble as 
nearly as possible the colour of rotten wood. It 
seems probable therefore that the ground wasp em- 
ploys wood in various states of decay, but I believe 
the Vespa Britannica only uses wood nearly sound, 
on account of the greater degree of toughness re- 
quisite in a nest that is to resist the action of the 
weather. In such cases it gnaws the softer parts 
f Reaumur, vol. vi. p. 182. ¢ White’s Selborne, vol. ii. p. 228. 
h Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 508. 
