A Wasp's Nest
Usually the queen wasp manages to steal a march on her enemies and her brood is out in force before anyone knows where the nest is situated; hut, passing along a path that crosses the gable of the cottage and permits inspection of the apex of the roof, I was able to discover the work of a queen wasp in good time. It was the beginning of a nest, a little miracle in grey " paper " about the size of a walnut. I detached it from the wood, and turned it over to inspect the Chinese- lantern construction of ball and canopy and cells in the very heart of the thing, like the brood cells of the honey bee but less conven- tional in shape, for no one encourages the wasp by providing a foundation for the autumn swarm that invades by every window, seek- ing warmth and the marmalade-jar. The fragile nest blew out of my hand, and I hastened to recover it. While I was doing so the queen returned. In a few days she will have fixed a fresh anchor to some beam or rafter, and the business of mass-production will soon be going on, aided by hundreds of workers as they hatch and come to maturity in the warm sun.
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