thirteen cells, arranged in five rows, four being in the central row, and the rest graduating regularly. It is almost as large as a well-sized turnip radish, and something of the same shape, supposing the radish to be suspended by the root, and to be cut off just below the leaves. The outer envelope is composed of three layers overlapping each other, which are very fragile, considering the work they have to perform.

The wasp itself is prettily marked, and although it is variable in colouring, can be recognised by the black anchor-shaped mark on the clypeus, and the squared black spot on the segments of the abdomen.

ANOTHER species of British Tree Wasp is the CAMPANULAR WASP (Vespa sylvestris), a species which has received a multitude of scientific names, but which is not variable in colour as that which has just been mentioned. Though it has a wider distribution than the Norwegian wasp, it is scarcely so plentiful an insect, and is remarkable for an occasional habit of making a subterranean nest like that of the common wasp. The NORTHERN WASP (Vespa borealis or arborea), is another of the pensile wasps, and is mostly found in the North of England and Scotland. Its nest is built in fir-trees. I may perhaps mention that the tree wasps may always be distinguished from their subterranean brethren by the colour of the antennæ, workers and females having the scape black in the ground wasps, and those which build in trees having it yellow in both sexes.

THE nest of the tatua, which has recently been described, must not be confounded with that of the PASTEBOARD WASP (Chartergus nidulans), although both insects inhabit the same country, and the nest of the latter bears a great external resemblance to the pendulous nest of the tatua. But when examined closely, this nest is seen to have a remarkable addition to its structure, the hole through which the branch is passed being very large, so as to permit the nest to swing freely in the wind. In most specimens of these nests the hole is simply made through the thick upper end of the structure but in a few examples the pasteboard-like substance is so moulded that it looks as if a ring had been added to the top of the nest.

The dimensions of the Chartergus' nest are extremely variable,

each structure appearing to be capable of unlimited enlargement. The mode by which the wasps increase the size of their pensile home is equally simple and efficacious. When the number of the inhabitants becomes so large that a fresh series of cells is required, the insects enlarge their home with perfect ease, and at the same time without destroying its symmetry, a point which is

often forgotten when human architects undertake the enlarge ment of some fine old edifice. Taking the bottom of the nest as the starting-point, they build upon it a series of cells, taking care to add another row or two to the circumference, so as to increase the diameter in proportion to the length. They then add fresh material to the outer wall, which is lengthened so as to include the new tier of cells, and then the bottom is closed with a new floor, which in its turn will become the ceiling of the next tier of cells.

These nests are therefore permanent; unlike the habitations of the common British wasps, which are only used for a single season and then deserted, the few surviving females seeking their winter quarters elsewhere, and always choosing some fresh spot for the nucleus of a fresh colony. On the average, a well-sized

nest of the Chartergus is about one foot in length and of proportionate width, a few being found of larger dimensions and many of smaller. Now and then a positive giant of a nest is discovered where the colony has not only been undisturbed, but surrounding circumstances have been favourable to its continued increase. The name Chartergus is derived from two Greek words, signifying paper-maker.

One of the largest, if not the very largest of these pasteboard nests that has yet been discovered, was found in Ceylon, attached to the inside of a huge palm-leaf, and was of the astonishing length of six feet. Now, to form an idea of a nest six feet in length is not very easy. It is as easy to write the words six feet as six inches, but the idea which is to be conveyed is another matter, the cubical measurement being absolutely enormous.

The gigantic wasp's nest which has lately been described is so conspicuous an object that, although it is only a little more than three feet in length, no one can enter the room without noticing it. But a nest six feet in length is so huge as scarcely to be credited except from actual sight. Such a nest could hardly be taken through an ordinary doorway, and there are few houses of the modern build which could receive it into any room except through the window after both sashes have been removed. We all know how conspicuous among ordinary men is one who measures six feet in height, and we shall form a better idea of the nest in question, if we reckon it to be equal in length to a "six-foot" man, and of course to occupy much more space, on account of its bell-like shape.

Mr. Westwood mentions the nest of an allied species of wasp, which is about eight inches in diameter, and is so hard and smooth on the exterior, that it almost seems to be made of pottery instead of vegetable fibre. This nest is in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

I HAVE already mentioned that there are many genera of nestmaking insects, whose habitations are in some degree similar, and yet present such salient points of difference that they must be classed under different heads. Such, for example, is the strange genus Polistes, which is spread over a large portion of the globe, and which makes so singular a variety of nests. However different they may be, there is always one point of union among

them ; that the cells are exposed to the air without any covering at all, and in consequence, are made of stouter material than those of ordinary wasps, which protect the cells from the weather by a covering.

Many of this species make a nest of a nearly circular shape, and attach it sideways to branches, walls, trunks of trees or other supports; but there is a very curious nest in the British Museum which is made on a totally different principle, the combs looking as if they were soft, flexible, and hung carelessly over a twig. There are three of these remarkable combs, having the cells very like those of the common hive bee, both in shape and size, but all being of a dark brown hue. The cells are laid on their sides, like those of the bee, and the combs are long and narrow, looking like one large comb cut into three strips. This curious nest came from Siam.

IN the accompanying illustration are represented two nests, both from tropical America, and both found in similar localities. These are the habitations of two species of wasp, which are remarkable for their honey-making powers.

In the year 1780, a Spanish officer named Don Feliz de Azara was raised from the rank of captain to that of lieutenant-colonel, and sent to Paraguay, in order to decide a dispute concerning the limits of the possessions respectively held by Spain and Portugal.

He was then thirty-four years of age, and being a man of great energy, set to work out the construction of a map of Paraguay. This was a Herculean task, occupying thirteen years in its completion, and forcing De Azara to explore regions before unknown, and to trust himself to the native tribes who had never before seen the face of a white man. While engaged in this occupation, he made a vast collection of notes upon the native tribes of Paraguay, as well as upon the beasts, birds, insects, and vegetation, together with an account of the method by which the Jesuit missionaries established themselves and ruled the country for many years.

After his return to Europe, in 1801, he published the account of his travels, and met with the usual fate of those who first penetrate into unknown countries. His statements were not believed, and among those which raised the greatest discredit

was an account of certain wasps which made honey. Some persons said that the whole statement was a fabrication, and others remarked that the honey-making insects were simply bees which De Azara had erroneously considered to be wasps. Time, however, had its usual effect, and De Azara has been proved to be perfectly trustworthy in his remarks. The two specimens which are represented in the illustration are now in the British Museum, and afford tangible proofs that De Azara was right and his detractors wrong.

The right-hand figure represents the nest of a curious insect, named by Mr. Adam White Myrapetra scutellaris. The generic title is not very appropriate, being simply a fanciful name, composed of the names of two ancient cities, one called Myra, in Lycia, and the other Petra, the capital town of Arabia Petræa.