426 



HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



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 par- 

 tition 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 

 two opposite layers, but in one only, their entrance being 

 always downwards : consequently the upper part of the comb, 

 composed of the bases of the 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 in- 

 genious 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 composed 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 colonnade of from forty to fifty of these pillars ; the 

 upper and lower combs by a smaller number. 



The cells, which in a populous nest are not fewer than 

 16,000, are of different sizes, corresponding to that of the 

 three orders of individuals which compose the community ; 

 the largest for the grubs of females, the smallest for those of 

 workers. The last always occupy an entire comb, while the 

 cells of the males and females are often intermixed. — 

 Besides openings which are left between the walls of the 

 combs to admit of access from one to the other, there are at 

 the bottom of each nest two holes, by one of which the wasps 

 uniformly enter, and through the other issue from the nest, 

 and thus avoid all confusion or interruption of their common 



1 Memoirs of the Wernerian Societi/, ii. 260. 



