The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-10-07
wAsPs' DOMESTIC VIRTUES.
These Inventors of Papier Mache Are In
dustrious If Nothing More.

These Inventors of Papier Mache Are In
dustrious If Nothing More.
Like many disagreeable people, the
wasp, though intolerably in society, is
. paragon of domestic virtue-of the
fussy, Woodworking, grate-and-win-
dow-cleaning kind. Moreover, the
wasp invented papier mache, and the
swarm slave at the production of this
patent material with all the energy and
conscious merit of South Yorkshire
manufacturing community. The nests,
If less beautiful than some enthusiasts
assert, are extremely curious and inter-
esting, and in the early stages of their
construction they gain much in ele-
gance from the nature of the building
material used. The first few cells are
built by the queen-wasp herself, who,
unlike the queen-bee, is the actual
founder, builder, mother and nurse of
the infant colony. The nest, begun
early in the spring, is often destroyed,
together with the queen wasp
herself, by the rains of April
and May; ana the extraordinary
drought of these months is the key to
the wasp plague of the present sum-
mer. Roughly speaking, of the six
hardly distinguishable kinds of En-.
glish social wasps, the three least com
mon make an elegant pendant nest in
the branches of trees, the others pre-.
ferring either u hole in bank or some
natural hollow. In the nests of the
tree-wasps, the first few cells are bung
under an elegant umbrella roof to pro.
tect them from the rain; this is then
surrounded with successive layers of
thin papicr-mache, opening at the hot
tom, SO light, flaky and fimsy that the
whole resembles the gray and crumplcd
ashes of Il rose, supposing the flower
could, when burnt, retain, as paper
docs, its form, while losing weight and
color. The cells are hexagonal, like
those of the hive-bee, but being meant
As nurseries, and not for honey-stores,
are built in single layers, each story
being supported by rows of pillars OF
cellular papier-mache.
The swarm are as busy as ants, each
wasp having it's own set portion of the
walls to complete. But, unlike most
ants. though their camp is organized,
their commissariat depends on individ-
ual exertion, and 1t is the independent
zeal of the foraging insects that the
great wasp nuisance is due One-third
of the colony are busy all day long in
bringing food to the rest, each wasp
getting what it can where it can, with
IN aggressive, noisy, headlong indus
try which will take no denial;
and having just one idea in its
mead, it usually succeeds in cary
rying it out Thirty, or even forty
visits. was not an uncommon days work
for one Of Sir John Lubbock's wasps,
when the honey which he provided had
been discovered. Sweet stuffs seems a
necessary part OF their food, but hardly
anything comes amiss to them; meat
from the butchers, and even garbage
of all sorts is carried to the nest. 1t is
perhaps fortunate that wasps do not
bite as we'll as sting, for the blood poi.
soning that might follow would prob
ably be serious 1t has been urged on
behalf of the wasp that it kills flies,
and thus plays useful part in nature.
The plea can hardly be successful. fol
the wasp kills spiders as well. -Spec'
tator.
J No Show at AlL-Gabe Snodgrass
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