Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/758

 WAS

while it is hot and moift, they very rarely have the misfortune tofcorch, except now and then in the deptli of winter. When fuch an accident has once happened in a Hill, they are ex- tremely felicitous and careful to fcrape, fcrub, and fcour off theremains of the burnt matter, otherwife they find the fame accident very liable to happen again in the fame place. But be- yond all the other methods in ufe on this occafion, would be the working the ftdls not by a dry heat, but in a balneum im- ria;, which might poffibly be fo contrived by the bafon being large, and capable of working a great many {tills at once, as to be extremely worth the proprietor's while in all refpecls. Shaw's Effay on Diftillery. See the article Ma l T-Dijlillery. Wash is alfo uftd for the (hallow part of a river, or arm of the

fea, as the IVaJlies in Lincolnshire. Blount. WASHING (Cyel.) Washing of Ores, the purifying an ore of any metal by means of water, from earths and (tones, which would otherwife render it difficult of fufion. The method of doing it is this : Break the ore to a coarfe powder in an iron mortar, weigh twenty or thirty docimaftical centners of it, put them into the Wefiing-trough, and pour fome water upon them, that the ore may be thoroughly moift ; then have a veffel full of water, the diameter of which muft be a little larger than the length of the trough ; take the trough with the left-hand by the top of the hinder part, and dipping it horizontally into the water, move it gently with the right-hand from the fore part of the trough, which is al- ways to be made the fhallowcr part of it, toward the hinder part, which is deeper, then take out the trough, and incline it a little on the fore-patt that the water may run out, and the heavier metallic part remain at the bottom ; repeat this feveral times till the remains at the bottom of the trough arc quite pure. If the (lone in which ore is lodged be too hard for powdering in its natural Hate, as the flinty and debafed cryftal- line ones commonly are ; the whole muft be calcined, and quenched in cold water feveral times over, and afterwards powdered and warned in this manner: when it is thus waffled, affay a centner of it, and from the bead of metal this yields, it will be eafy to eftimate the value of the ore. Cramer's Art of Affaying, p. 244. WASP. The IVafp has four wings and fix feet ; his body is yel- low, with black triangular fpots : the common IVafp breeds in the ground. There is another kind much more fierce, but very rare : thefe breed in woods and mountains ; they are larger, and have broader bodies, and much more black about them ; their (ting is fo large, that it feems difproportioned to the fize of their bodies.

To thefe are to be added the Icbneunum-wafps, which are fmaller than the others, and have very (lender bodies, but of the fame colours with the common kind : thefe ufually live in the holes of mud-walls, and make a fort of porch of mud before the doors of their habitations.

There is alfo another Wafp common about Vienna; this is three times as large as the common kind, and feems of two different fpecics, the one having rough antenna:, and the other fmooth : they are both variegated with black and a bright yellow. Mouffets Hift. Infect, p. 6.

I he IVafps conftrua regular combs, and rear their young in the cells ot thefe combs in the manner of bees : wherever there is a young worm in a cell, the old IVafps frequently thruft their heads into it, and call: up the food for the young one out of their mouths : their cells are hexagonal ; and when they have a mind to enlarge their habitation, and make more or bigger combs in them, they are feen very bufily coming out of the mouth of the hole, every one loaded with a parcel of earth, till they have carried out as much as is neceffary for the intended enlargement.

They fupport their combs one over another by crofs pieces of about an inch long, fo that there is ample room for the Waffs to pafs in their feveral bufinefles. Thofe cells which ftand in the center of a comb, are always perpendicular; the others all ftand more or lefs obliquely ; and in the center, the comb is fomewhat hollowed and depreffed on the face, and convex on the back ; and in this part is inferred the principal crofs piece that ferves for a fiipport. Ray's Hift. of Infects, p. 250. 1 he eggs of the IVafp arc of an oblong form, and referable tfjofe of the common fly, but they are larger; they arc al- ways fattened to the angles of a cell, never to the fides of it. They are ufually placed fingle ; it is very rare to find two in one cell ; and if they are laid fo, it feems that one only fuc- ceeds ; for there is never found more than one worm in a cell. The egg is always fixed to that angle of the cell which is neareft the center of the comb, and always near the bottom, not in the middle of the cell ; and when there are two eggs in one cell, they are never fixed to the fame angle, but {land at the fame height from the bottom, in the two neareft aiwles to the center of the comb. The heads of the nymphs are at nrft round and pellucid ; but foon afterwards the fkull and the forcipcs become reddifh. The heads of all the nymphs arc turned toward the center of the comb, and their tails go ob- lique y downward towards the bafe of the cell. They are con- tinually lecn opening their mouths, and moving 'their for- Clpes, feeming ever hungry, and impatiently waiting for food from their parents. The cells are left open, till the nymph is at its full growth ; then the IFafps cover it over with a thin

W A T

lid, under which the worm undergoes its transformation 5 and as foon as it is arrived at the IVafp ftate, it eats its way through this thin cover, and comes to work with the relt Mr. Ray mentions a peculiar fpecics of ff'afp, which builds a much fmaller neft. This is ufually fixed to a beam of fome old building, and has only one aperture, which is about half an inch wide, and ferves for the IVafps to go in and out at. This aperture is always exadly oppoiitc to that part of the hive, where it adheres to the beam. The hive or neft is covered with a thin membranaceous fubftance refembling pa- per, of a brown colour, with ftreaks of white, dilpofed in regular circles. The whole neft is about three inches in dia- meter, and is ufually compofed of about nine crulls ; when thefe are cut away, there appears a round comb in the center, and a fmaller above it, fixed up by a pedicle arifmg from the center of each. In every one of thefe cells, which are hexa- gonal as thofe of the common IVafp, is reared one worm, which, in fine, becomes a IVafp.

The fpecies of IVafp which builds in this manner, differs from the common Wajp, in that it is fomewhat larger; it is fmoother alfo, and has rings of a deeper yellow on the back : the black fpots are not fo regular in this, as in the common IVafp; and the forehead in this is of a perfeft yellow, with- out any fpots. Thefe marks, with the difference of hanging a (mall neft againft a beam, and building a large one in" the ground, arc fufficient to diftinguifh this as an abfolutely dif- ferent fpecies. Bcfide thefe two, Mr. Ray mentions four other fpecies of IVafps : 1. The long and narrow-winged ff'afp, with long antennae, and a broad line of black in the middle of the belly. 2. The long and (lender black IVafp, with three ycllowifh-white ftreaks on the belly. 3. The broad and fhort-bodied IVafp, with rings of yellow and red. This much refemblcs the common IVafp in Ihape. 4. The (harp-tailed IVafp, with a black body, variegated wit], yellow- rings. This fpecies is found about old walls, and is furnifhed with but a very weak fting. All the others arc found wild in our fields. Ray's Hift. Infect, p. 251. We have an account in the Pbilofophical Transitions; N°. 476, of fome IVafp-nctts made of clay in Penfilvania. Thefe are of two kinds, one plain, fabricated by a fmall black IVafp, the figure of which is delineated in tab. 3, of that number. The other is a wreathed tubulated clay licit ; and thefe are built by a purplifh black IVafp, of the figure there reprefented. When thefe IVafps have laid their esgs, it is faid they go and catch fpiders, and cram the cells full ai them -, and what is remarkable, they do not kill the fpiders, but only difable them, as .if they intended to prevent their crawling away, and yet keep them alive.

Mr. Reaumur, in his hiftory of infects, vol. 6. mentions clay nefts from St. Domingo, fomewhat different from thefe. IchneumoiiAW asp. See the article Ichneumon. WASf-Fly, in natural hiftory, a fpecies of fly having very much the external figure of a IVafp, but harmlefs, without a fting, and with only two wines.

It is black and yellow on the body, and matked exactly as the IVafp, and is produced from a fpecies of the rat-tailed fly- worms. See the article DRONE-ity.

But befide thefe there is another fmall fly produced of the puceron-eatcrs, which has extremely the appearance of a fmall IVafp ; but it is perfectly harmlefs, and has only two wings. Reaumur, Hift. Inf. vol. 4. p. 4S6. WASP-Tipula, in natural hiftory, the name of an infeS defcribed by Mr. Reaumur, and being properly a tipula, or long- legs, though greatly refcmbling a IVafp.

This is produced of a worm found in the earth, lodged in the cavities of old trees ; the worm has no legs, but has a regit-' larly figured fcaly head. The fly produced from it has the long legs and the mouth of the tipula, with the remarkable ■ double beard which covers it, and which makes the great cha- t-after of this clafs of infefls ; but then the body is'fhort and thick, whereas the bodies of the common kinds are very bony and thin. This, as alfo the breaft, is variegated with ftreaks ot black and yellow, in the manner of the IVafp ; and its an- tennae arc very beautifully feathered, and bearded like thofe of the males of many of the gnat-kind. The head is black, and the legs are yellowifh. The wings have a yellowilh caft, and near their end have each a large (pot of brown. The bodv of the female of this fpecies is always much thicker than that of the male; and the fexes are eafiiy diftinguifhed by this. Reaumur's Hift. ln[. vol. 9. p. in. WASTE-Clot/js, in a (hip of war, the cloths hung up on the uppermoft work of a fhip's hull, to (hade the men from an enemy in the fight ; and therefore by fome are called fights. Waste-Tivtw, in a (hip, are thofe timbers which lie in her

IVa/Ie. WASTORS, in our ftatutcs, a kind of thieves fo called, and mentioned among robbers, draw-latches, cSV. Stat. 4. c. 1-. Bhunt, Cowel. WATCH (Cytl.) — The movement of thefe machines will be flopped with great cold ; and therefore in very cold climates, it is proper to keep them in one's fob by day, and in the bed by night. See Phil. Tranf. N°. 465. Sect. 2. VlATCK-G/afs. Mr. Boyle informs us, that to fafhion gkffes for IVatch'cs, or the like purpofe, into a convex or concave

figure,