WASP NESTS. 
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yellow and black banded body. Both the insects, as well as 
their houses, are represented of the natural size. 
The cell of the Pelopaeus is larger than that of the preceding 
insect, and occupies much more time in the construction, a week 
at least being devoted to the task. She sets to work very 
methodically, taking a long time in kneading the clay, which 
she rolls into little spherical pellets, and kneads for a minute or 
two before she leaves the ground. She then flies away with her 
load, and adds it to the nest, spreading the clay in a series of 
rings, like the courses of bricks in a circular chimney, so that 
the edifice soon assumes a rudely cylindrical form. 
When she has nearly completed her task, she goes off in 
search of creatures wherewith to stock the nest, and to serve as 
food for the young, and selects about the most unpromising 
specimens that can be conceived. Like many other solitary 
hymenoptera, this Pelopseus stores her nest with spiders, and 
any one would suppose that she would choose the softest and 
the plumpest kinds for her young. It is found, however, that 
she acts precisely in the opposite manner. 
There is in the British Museum a most extraordinary series 
of wasps’ nests, built by the insects under the superintendence 
of the late Mr. Stone, whose death is a serious loss to all zoo- 
logists. The story of these nests is very remarkable, and 
shows how much we have to learn concerning the habits and 
instincts of insects. 
In the month of August, 1862, a nest of the common Wasp 
(Vespa germanica) was taken near Brighthampton, and handed 
over to Mr. Stone, who has long been in the habit of experi- 
menting upon these insects. 
The nest was very much damaged by carriage, and Mr. Stone 
took it entirely to pieces, placing one or two small combs inside 
a square wooden box with a glass front, and supporting them 
by a wire which passed through the combs to the roof of the 
box. He then fixed the box in a window, so as to allow the 
insects free ingress and egress through a hole in the back. 
About three hundred of the workers were then collected, 
