Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-27

Those who are interested In houses
and who iSn't?-would rejoice In a little
home out our way.
1t is about foot or IA inches long
perhaps 8 inches wide at the top, run.
ming to a point at the bottom, neal
which it has a very fine door Of 6
stylish cylindrical shape.
This house, in form. cone inverted
S of the most ex oellent construction, anC
its roof so well made that not one
of its 5000 Inhabitants got wet during
the recent rains.
1t hangs to the upper sill Of second
story bed room window, thus taking full
advantage Of the previous labors Of mar
along similar lines.
The shape of the structure is perfect
for its purposes rain hitting the top anc
falling on the edges, thus not touching
the greater part of the house at all.
The door, being near the bottom, anc
somewhat inside the outer curve Of the
top, or dome, is perfectly free from wet
ness, although the inmates have enough
sense to stay in when 1t rains, being
very smart fellows.
+ X X
This house belongs to some singing
insects of the order Hymenoptera. They
are members of the family Vespidae Of
the superfamily Vespoidea.
These particular ones belong to the
genus Vespa, and, according to human
scientists, are hence called Vespa vul-
garis or perhaps Vespa germanica.
Most people call them wasps.
The insects themselves find it un-
necessary to call themselves anything al
all. but Just live out their curious life
histories in the way their ancestors es-
tablished so many hundreds of years
ago.
There are said to be about 10000
species of wasps all of them predaceous
living OF other and smaller insects. The
vast majority are solitary. but some SOC
species are social In habits, and these
include the constructors of the little
house of which we have spoken.
WaSpS never swarm outside the
tropics. where warmth and plentiful
food enable them TO increase so nightly
that nests become overcrowded. In the
north temperate zone, where the mem
bers Of the genus Vespa hold forth. the
colonies last but single season, and the
phenomenon of Swarming, familiar
among bees, is unknown.
The waSps' house. as we cali it, for II
Is every inch superior piece of crafts
manship, is of dark gray color, and
IOOkS 10 pe HlAuS OA BEUuIlu paper.
/ As a matter of fact, that Is exactly
what it Is made Of
The nests are called paper" by the
scientists, and are made from fragments
Of dry wood chewed up and mixed with
saliva
This causes them to be constructed
out of macerated wood. forming a sort
of paper. At different stages in the
growth Of the nest. new layers are wrap
ped around, these being called coats OF
paper"
There is single queen to every nest
At the end of the season all perish ex-
cept the annual brood Of queens, who
will hibernate until next Spring.
There are three types Of inhabitants,
the queen, large number OF workers
and q small number Of males. As far
as we can find out, the queens arise
through superior feeding. In other
words, most of the workers could be
queens. If they could get enough to eat,
but they cant, because food Is scarce,
and there are so many mouths to feed.
Here Is the terrible drama Of the food
supply brought down to a space foot
high In nature, millions of human
beings, sitting on dykes, without food,