THE NECTARINIA A NAZIS. 
159 
The Myrapetra itself is of variable size, the largest being about 
four lines in length, and rather more than half an inch in expanse 
of wing. It is of a dusky brown colour, and is remarkable for 
having the first joint of the abdomen very much lengthened and 
narrowed, so that it sometimes resembles the same organ in the 
Pelopaeus. 
At the left hand of the same illustration may be seen a rather 
large globular nest, suspended from the boughs. This nest is 
shown in the position which it usually occupies, namely, hidden 
in the dark recesses of the Brazilian forest, amid the varied 
vegetation which grows so profusely in the hot and wet parts of 
the country which the insect frequents. 
The name of the species which makes this nest is Nectarinia 
analis , a title which is significant and appropriate enough, but 
which is rather unfortunate, inasmuch as it has already been 
applied to a genus of birds, the well-known honey-suckers of 
Africa and India, which are so frequently mistaken for humming 
birds, on account of their small size, their brilliant plumage, 
their slender beaks, and their fondness for flowers. 
This is not nearly so beautiful a nest as that which has just 
been described, the combs being devoid of regularity, and piled 
upon each other, as if the insect had no settfed plan on which to 
work, and put each comb in any place where there happened to 
be room for it. Irregular, however, as the structure may seem, 
it is not without a kind of order, for though the combs look as 
if they had been placed in a heap, and then rolled together, so 
as to assume a partially spherical shape, they are at all events 
made with the intention of forming that shape, so that they 
may be included under a single covering. In the specimen in 
the British Museum, the outer wall of the nest has been broken 
away in several places, so as to permit the combs to be seen. 
The entrance for the insects is very small, and when the 
respective dimensions of the wasp and the nest are taken into 
consideration, it seems really wonderful that when the inhabitants 
enter their house, they do not lose themselves in the intricate 
windings through which they pass from one comb to another. 
