  The wasp’s nest was found at the edge of the wood, hanging from the branch of a small tree. It was greyish white in colour, shaped like a pear, and about the size of a hen’s egg.
Uncle George removed it from the branch and carried it home carefully, for it was very light and very fragile. He took a pair of scissors and cut through the thin walls so as to remove nearly half of the coverings. When he had finished cutting, two thin, papery shells fell upon the table, one a size smaller than the other. “Examine the stuff the wasp’s nest is made of, and tell me what it is most like, boys,” he said. “It is more like paper than anything else,” said Tom. “It is paper,” said his uncle. “Where did the wasps find this paper?” Frank asked. “Not ‘wasps,’ Frank, but wasp,” his uncle answered, “for this nest was all built by one wasp. The insect did “The queen wasp awakens from her winter sleep in spring, and at once sets about making her nest. She gathers tiny fragments of wood and bark, chews them up, and mixes them with a fluid from her mouth. This, when it hardens, is paper. “First she makes a stiff rod, or pillar, of paper. This hangs down from the branch and forms the centre of the nest. Round this are built the walls of her house. “Observe, boys, that there are two distinct walls of paper, one inside the other; and there is a wide air space between them all the way round. The entrance to the nest is at the bottom. Round the centre pillar there is a little thing shaped like an opened umbrella. If you look underneath this, you will see something curious, I think.” “Oh,” said Frank, “it is divided into six cells, and in each cell there is a small, stout maggot or grub. I can see them moving.” “These are the young wasps,” said Uncle George. “Like your butterflies and caddis flies, the wasp passes through egg, larva (or caterpillar), and pupa stage before it becomes a perfect insect. These are in the larva stage but, unlike your caterpillars, they have no legs, and they cannot feed themselves.” “Then the mother wasp must have laid an egg in each cell,” said Frank, “and these grubs hatched out of them.” “That is so,” said Uncle George. “You see what a clever and industrious creature a wasp is. To build this beautiful nest all alone and unaided, and to rear and feed her helpless grubs, is a task indeed.” “What are the wasp grubs fed on?” asked Frank. “At first,” said Uncle George, “they are fed on animal food, and this keeps the queen wasp hunting insects all day long. As they grow older, they are fed upon honey.
“The wasps which come from these first eggs are ‘worker’ wasps. As soon as they are hatched out, they begin to enlarge the nest. This they do by removing the inside wall and building a new and larger outer wall. This is done from time to time, until at last the nest becomes as big as an ordinary-sized turnip. While this is going on, more and more cells are being built inside, until at last five or six large combs of cells fill the inside of the nest. The queen wasp lays an egg in each cell as it is formed; and the worker wasps gather food and nurse the young grubs until they become perfect wasps. “By and by some young queens, or female wasps, are “And that is why the gardener kills every wasp he sees in spring time,” said Frank. “Every wasp we see in spring,” said Uncle George, “is a queen wasp. If allowed to live, each queen would become the founder of a nest and the mother of thousands of wasps.” “But why destroy the wasps?” asked Tom. “Because wasps are very destructive and dangerous insects,” said Uncle George. “They destroy our best fruit, and their sting is poisonous, sometimes causing death.” Wasp’s Nest inside Wren’s Nest. During the summer the boys found several wasp’s nests. One was built under-ground at the roadside. Another was built inside a wren’s nest. The queen wasp who built it had driven the wrens out. A third nest hung from the branch of a gooseberry bush in the garden. Humble Bees and Nest. The latter was watched by Uncle George and the boys as it grew larger and larger. Soon, however, the wasps became too numerous. One day they chased Tom and Frank out of the garden and stung them badly. Then Uncle George removed the nest. Putting on his bee-veil and gloves, he cut off the branch from which the nest hung. He put nest and branch inside a large box; and, having placed a saucer containing burning sulphur inside the box, he closed the lid. Nest of Tree Wasp. In the morning the wasps were all dead, and the boys examined the huge nest. Thus they were able to see queens, workers, and male wasps, eggs, larvÆ, and pupÆ, and to make drawings of each. “What becomes of the wasps in winter?” Frank asked his uncle. “They come to a sad end, Frank,” said Uncle George. “They do not store food like the hive bee, and so, when the cold weather comes, they starve to death.
“Our good-humoured and hard-working friend, the humble bee, shares the same fate. A few young queens leave the nest before winter comes on. These bury themselves in mossy banks and sleep the winter through.” Exercises on Lesson XI.
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