Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-14
INSECTS THAT MAKE PAPER,
Wasps and the Fanny Houses They Build
Out Of Wood Pulp.


Out Of Wood Pulp.
seWASPS WERE THE FIRST PAPER
w makers" said an entomologist to a
writer for The STAR. sit is very interesting to
study the ways Of these fierce little insects. For
the sake Of grab at the honey store a single
individual will sometimes face whole hive of
bees being in fair combat q match for any
three inhabitants Of the apiary. Most Of us
have had experience of the fearlessness with
which they will attack human beings.
"The female wasp spends the winter in a
torpid condition. and when spring arrives
she hunts up some sort Of sheltered spot ap-
propriate for nest. A mouse hole serves her
purpose excellently. Having selected the re-
treat, she proceeds to lay within it the founda-
tion of home that is destined before long to
afford quarters for a large and busy family.
For this object earth will not serve her turn.
OF the house are to be composed must be none
other than the finest paper. made of wood pulp,
mixed with sort of sizing. worked to paste
and finally spread into sheets.
ION any fine day in springtime you may
catch sight OF a wasp earnestly at work with its
jaws upon an old fence paling or window
frame In this manner she gets together q
bundle OF wood raspings, which she carries
into the hole she has selected, thereupon
kneading it into paste and preparing it prop
erly for her purpose. With this material she
builds sort OF terrace, which she suspends hor-
izontally, and not. like the combs of a beehive.
in vertical position. The terrace is sort Of
hanging floor, secured to the roof by strong
paper rods. 1t is circular, and is composed Of
an immense number of cells made of paper and
almost OF the same size and form as those of q
honeycomb, each being perfect hexagon.
these cells, however are never used as honey
pots by wasps, as they are by bees, for wasps
make no honey. and the cells only uti-
hzed for nursery purposes-in other words, as
rooms in which the young are reared.
when the old lady W asp has completed a
certain number of cells and deposited eggs
in them she stops building in order to procure
honey from the flowers, wherewith to feed the
young worm unlike Larvae which have been Matched
from the eggs. In a few weeks these little
grubs become perfect wasps and lend their as
sistance in the extension of the edifce forming
another platform Of cells, suspended from the
first by columns. So it continues and by the
end OF summer the house-perhaps it might
be better called a town-of hanging terraces is
completed, and The descendants of the original
foundress may number as many as SO, 900.
Scarcely has the nest arrived al completion
through the iabors Of the youngest generation
OF Its inhabitants. when the early frosts of
autumn begin to thin their numbers When
November comes the wasp population is cut off
rs by pestilence. OF those abroad some fall
far from their hsbitation; others crawl back to
die, while those at home. lately SO busy in the
work OF building, repairing or keeping in
order. are now sluggish and inactive. In
little while the city of terraces becomes a city
OF the dead. Its sole surviving dwellers are
two or three females, On whom depends the
perpetuation of the race. They pass the win
ter in a torpid state. and when the early warmth
OF spring awakens them they wander of, each
on her own way. to found another colony"