i‘28 A PECULIAR KIND 
the large breeding wasps which appear in the 
spring. The neuters, or imperfectly deve- 
loped females, are the common wasps which 
infest onr houses and gardens, and form the 
majority of the colony. The males, about the 
size of the neuters, have longer antennae, a 
more slender form, and are destiLite of a 
sting. The females, which alone survive the 
winter, early in the spring, having fixed on 
a suitable place for a nest, form a few cells, 
in which they lay the eggs of neuters only. 
Each nest is the work of a single female. 
The nests are often suspended from the beam 
of a shed, from the eaves of a house, from 
the branch of a young tree, or in a thorn 
hedge, 
Mr. Bigge has observed them in the 
Scotch fir, elm, and beech, very frequently 
in larch trees, and still more so in gooseberry 
bushes, but never in the silver fir, as stated 
by Mr. Renni.* 
The nest consists of fi'om ten to sixteen 
layers of a paper like substance, procured 
principally from fir wood, and disposed one 
over the other in such a manner that each 
sheet barely touches the next. The struc- 
ture enables it to resist the havicst rains. 
In its earliest state it does not exceed an 
inch in diameter, and contains five or six 
cells only. 
It is formed of two semicircular layers of 
the paper, the upper one projecting a little 
over the other, so as to shoot off the rain, a 
hole being left at the bottom large enough 
to admit the female wasp. As soon as the 
first workers quit their cells, they begin 
the task of enlarging the nest, and of adding 
fresh layers of cells, in which the female 
immediately deposits more eggs. Mr, Bigge 
states that the nest is enlarged from one 
inch to twelve in diameter, and considers 
that Leach is in error when he affirms that 
wasps build two nests in the year. 
Is not the loose structure of the external 
covering intended to facilitate its expansion ? 
The egg is hatched in eight days, and then 
assumes the form of a grub. It is then fed 
by the female for thirteen or fourteen days, 
when the grub covers the mouth of its cell 
with a silky substance. It remains in this 
state for nine days, and then eats its way 
through the covering and joins the rest in 
the labours of the nest. As soon a& the 
neuters are hatched the care of feeding the 
larvae devolves upon them. The males 
appear to employ themselves in cleaning and 
preparing the cells for successive broods. 
Mr. Bigge has never found, in any single 
instance, a male larva in the cells appropid- 
ated to females. He has repeatedly found 
male grubs in the upper layers, which are 
devoted to neuters, but never the contrary. 
The beautiful arrangement by which the lay- 
ers in the nest are attached to each other so 
as to allow room for the wasps to walk 
between them deserves attention. In the 
* I have frequently observed nests situated 
on wild I'ose hushes (Rosa tomentosa and canina,') 
(in Scotland. The choice ofthese shrubs hy the 
wasps is probably to be ascribed to the facilities 
which they afford for obtaining- food. Enix. 
OF WASP’S NEST. 
ground nests the supports or braces ave 
round, like small columns, and dispersed at 
irregular distances. The upper end is spreoed 
along the edges of three cells so as to <livide 
the pressure, and yet allow room for the 
grubs to work their way out when they are 
of pillar like braces, thin slips of the paper 
of which the whole nest is composed but made 
stilfer for this purpose, are continued along 
the edges of a number of cells, so as not to 
interfre with the inmates, and are finally 
fixed to the layer below. 
The autnor has never seen a nest of either 
species, in which he did not observe after & 
o’clock in the summer months, a sentinel 
watching the entrance to the hive. He has 
sometimes thought, that he could discern a 
second ^entincl, behind the first one. A lan- 
tern held near the sentinel does not disturb 
him, but on touching the ground near him, 
he instantly disappears for a few seconds, 
and the inhabitants sally out immediately.^ 
Several wasps pass the night in sum- 
mer on the outside of the tree nest, but the 
centinel is notwithstanding always at his 
post. 
The ground nest has two apertures, one 
for entry, and the other for exit. The tree 
nest has usually only one, but in large colo- 
nies there are two, at each of which a senti- 
nel is stationed. It is curious, that, if we 
stop up a wasp’s nest, the returning wasp 
will not sting the aggressor, while those 
which escape from th e inside will attack him 
instantly. The grub of a species of volucella 
is found in the nests of wasps. An ichneu- 
mon as large as the wasp itself, with a black 
head, yellow abdomen with a dark streak ! 
down the back, black legs, and under wings, j 
and dusky upper wings has been observed I 
by Mr. Denison, and another (Anomalon 
Vesparum) by Mr. Wood. 
Mr. Twiss mentioned a peculiar kind of 
wasp’s nest which he had observed on the 
Cactus in Sicily. The author suggested 
the query, whether it was not the Epipone 
Fidulans, sometimes found also in England. 
CTo be continued.) 
PLATE-GLASS. — A French paper states, 
that the largest piece of plate glass ever 
manufactured has just been finished at St. 
Gobiu. It is 175 French inches high by 125 
wide. At the last Exhibition at the Louvre, 
the largest plate shown was 155 inches hy 93 
THERMOMETERS. — Professor Johnson 
exhibited some alcohol and mercurial ther- 
mometers constructed by him of large size 
and admitting of graduation to hundredths 
and even two hundredths of a degree Fahr. 
He showed a curious fact not noticed in des- 
criptions of the thermometer, namely, that 
the first effect of heat on one of these instru- 
ments is to cause a fall in the liquid, and 
the reverse on reducing the temperature — 
effects produced as was explained by the 
expansion and contraction of the glass. — 
Monthly Meeting Franklin Institute. 
