INSECTS. 
173 
“ One sheet, however, of such paper as this would form 
but a fragile ceiling, quite insufficient to prevent the 
earth falling down into tlio nest. The Wasp, accordingly, 
is not satisfied with her work till she has spread fifteen 
or sixteen layers, one above the other, rendering the wall 
altogether nearly two inches thick. Tho several layers 
are not placed in contact like the layers of a piece of 
pasteboard, but with small intervals or open spaces be- 
tween, appearing somewhat like a grotto built with bivalve 
shells, particularly when looked at on the outside. This 
is probably caused by the insect working in a curvilineal 
manner. 
“ Having finished the ceiling, she next begins to build 
the first terrace of her city, which, under its protection, 
she suspends horizontally, and not like the combs in a 
bee-hive, in a perpendicular position. The suspension of 
which we speak is also light and elegant, compared with 
the more heavy union of tho hive-bees’ combs. It is, in 
fact, a hanging floor, immovoably secured by rods of simi- 
lar materials with the roof, but rather stronger. From 
twelve to thirty of these rods, about an inch or less in 
length, and a quarter of an inch in diameter, are con- 
structed for the suspension of the terrace. They are ele- 
gant in form, being made gradually narrower towards the 
middle, and widening at each end, iu ordei*, no doubt, to 
render their hold the stronger. 
“ The terrace itself is circular, and composed of an 
immense number of cells, formed of the paper already de- 
scribed, and of almost the same size and form as those of 
a honeycomb, each being a perfect hexagon, mathemati- 
cally exact, and every hair’s-broadth of the spaco com- 
