180 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
which we have already noticed in the case of certain ants, 
a row of bees is formed, and the bits of moss passed from 
one to another along the line. There is a long passage 
to the nest, through which the moss has to be passed, and 
it is said that at the mouth of the tunnel a guard ]s 
stationed to drive away ants or other intruders. 
Wasps . — These usually construct their nests of wood- 
dust, which they scrape off the weather-worn surfaces of 
boards, palings, &c., and work into a kind of paper with 
their saliva. If they happen to find any real paper, they 
perceive that it so much resembles the product of their 
own manufacture that they utilise it forthwith. The 
wasps do not require any special cells or chambers for the 
storage of honey, as they do not lay up any supply for the 
winter. The cells which they construct are therefore used 
exclusively for the rearing of larvae. In form these cells 
are sometimes cylindrical or globular, but more usually 
hexagonal, like those of the hive-bee. Although the 
mode of building is different from that employed by the 
bees, there can be little doubt that if it were as care- 
fully investigated Mr. Darwin’s theory of transition from 
the cylindrical to the hexagonal form would be found to 
apply here also, seeing that both forms so frequently 
occur in the same nest. 
The Mason-Wasp . — The habits of this insect are de- 
scribed by Mr. Bates. It constructs its nest of clay. Each 
pellet that the insect brings it lays on the top of its nest- 
wall, and then spreads it out with its jaws, and treads it 
smooth with its feet. The nest, which is suspended on the 
branch of a tree, is then stocked with spiders and insects 
paralysed by stinging. The victims, not being wholly 
deprived of life, keep fresh until required as food of Die 
developing larvae. 
The Butcher- Wasp s . — These also paralyse their prey 
in a similar manner, and for a similar purpose. Fabre 
removed from a so-called sph ex-wasp a killed grass- 
hopper, which it was conveying to its nest and had 
momentarily laid down at the mouth of the burrow — as 
these insects always do on returning w T ith prey, in order 
to see that nothing has intruded into the burrow during 
