THE RAPHIGASTER GUINIEjySIS. 365 
stalk. This insect is a native of Natal. Other species of the 
same group will be mentioned in the course of the following 
pages. 
In the left-hand upper corner maybe seen a very remarkable 
triple nest depending from a branch. This is the work of an 
insect called Mischocyttarus labiatus , which belongs to the family 
Polistidae. Like the nest of the preceding insect, it is attached 
to the bough by a slender and tolerably long footstalk, and the 
mouths of the cells are .downwards, as is always the case with 
these insects. 
Generally, the group of cells is single, but occasionally a more 
perfect nest is found, which, like the specimen figured in the 
illustration, has three distinct cell groups, each pendent from the 
centre of the group above. This may seem rather a dangerous 
method of suspending the nest, but it is not more so than that 
which is employed by the common wasp, which builds tier under 
tier of cells, hanging each tier from its immediate predecessor 
by little pillars of the same paper-like material as that of which 
the cells are constructed ; or very much, indeed, as the roadway 
of a suspension bridge is hung from its arch instead of being 
placed upon it. The insect itself is smaller than the preceding, 
and is almost uniformly brown. 
The last of these three groups is particularly entitled to notice, 
on account of its bearing upon the hexagonal principle, which 
has been so often mentioned. The name of the insect is Raphi- 
gaster Guiniensis, and, as its name implies, it is a native of 
Western Africa. 
The nest consists of a group of long cells, and suspended from 
a footstalk. The material of which the nest is composed is 
peculiarly soft and flimsy, reminding the observer of the worst 
and most porous French paper. The cells are so thin that the 
light shines through their delicate walls, and they are so soft 
that they yield to the least pressure. Each cell is small at the 
base, and increases regularly towards the mouth, like a reversed 
sugar-loaf. 
