IVASPS' NESTS AND A SEQUEL 
i(>7 
wasps of course were killed, but the rest, incensed to fury, 
formed a yellow and black cloud of seething vengeance over the 
fallen fortress. We gave the gooseberry bush a wide berth for 
four days, and then, the vindictive humming being hushed, and 
only a stray wasp visible at intervals, we ventured nearer to 
view the ruins. To our surprise, the ground was quite clear of 
debris, and among the thickest branches of our favourite bush 
was once more hanging a perfect wasp citadel. In that short 
space of time the wasps had reconstructed a new fortress out 
of the old material, and all that remained of the previous attack 
was a few dead wasps lying on the ground. 
For a time we left the colony unmolested, as we desired 
more closely to watch it, but at last the wasps became so 
troublesome, entering the cottage in hordes, and taking posses- 
sion of any sweet food left uncovered for a moment, that we 
felt something must be done. The question now was, whether 
we or the wasps were to be the occupants, for there was not 
room for both. One night, when the wasps had all retired into 
their fortress, an intrepid villager, veiled so as to be sting proof, 
destroyed the colony with sulphur, and the nest, in its entirety, 
we secured as a trophy. When our holiday came to a close, 
and before leaving, we remarked to one of the village boys, 
that we should very much like to possess a ground-wasps’ nest. 
In the following June a nest of the ground-wasp, packed in 
a tin box, reached us by post in London. It was made up of 
five stories of hexagonal cells very like the honeycomb of the 
bee, and yet unlike the honeycomb in one \vay, because the cells 
were placed horizontally and composed of layers and layers of 
thin paper instead of wax. Each terrace of cells was separated 
from that above or below by slender rods or columns about 
half an inch long, leaving spaces between the different terraces. 
The uppermost storey contained the oldest cells, the one below 
the next oldest, and so on, and in each cell was an undeveloped 
wasp. 
We put the box and its contents aside, but happening to 
mention to an interested friend that we possessed both a tree 
and a ground-wasps’ nest, opened the box which contained the 
latter. 
A vindictive buzz greeted us from six full-grown wasps, 
who, very much alive, had vacated their nurseries in the top 
storey and were anxious to inspect a larger world. They had 
tried to appease their hunger by nibbling away the cells from 
which they had issued, and had also demolished the walls of 
some other cells which held their younger brethren, who, being 
exposed to the cold world before their time, perished. We sus- 
tained a nasty sting, for which we necessarily sought redress of 
those six wasps, and anxious to prevent a like contretemps, so 
-dealt with the box and its contents, as in our belief to destroy 
-all germs left alive in the comb. 
In the meantime, another episode happened. A friend from 
