

376 THE INSECT WORLD. 
do not give this name to the sides of the hollow in which it is 
situated ; the walls I allude to are only walls of paper, but strong 
enough, nevertheless, for the uses for which they are intended.” 
Generally, the shape of the outside of a wasp’s nest is spherical 
or oval, sometimes conical. Its diameter is about from twelve to 
sixteen inches, its surface, which resembles a mass of bivalve 
shells, has one hole for entrance, and another for exit, just large 
enough to allow of one single wasp passing in or out at the same 
time (Fig. 350). 
The wasps’ nest is composed, in the interior, of fifteen or sixteen 








































































































Fig. 351.—Interior of Wasps’ Nest, after Réaumur. 
horizontal galleries, arranged in stories, and supported by numerous 
pillars of separation. We give here (Fig. 351) a section and view 
of the interior, drawn from memory by Réaumur.* The cakes 
forming the comb are composed of hexagonal cells, which are 
always used as cradles, never as storehouses. They open below. 
* Tome vi., planche 14, p. 167. 

