Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/458

 the centre of each platform is perforated for the admission of the wasps, at the extremity of a short funnel-like projection, and through this access is gained from story to story. On each platform, therefore, can the wasps walk leisurely about, attending to the pupæ secured in the cells, which, with the mouths downward, cover the ceiling above their heads—the height of the latter being just convenient for their work."

Pendent wasps'-nests of enormous size are found in Ceylon, suspended often in the talipot-tree at the height of seventy feet. The appearance of these nests thus elevated, with the larger leaves of the tree, used by the natives as umbrellas and tents, waving over them, is very singular. Though no species of European wasp is a storer of honey, yet this rule does not apply to certain species of South America. In the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" for June, 1841, will be found a detailed account, with a figure of the pendent nest of a species termed by Mr. A. White Myraptera scutellaris. The external case consists of stout cardboard covered with conical knobs of various sizes. The entrances are artfully protected by pent-*roofs from the weather and heavy rains; and are tortuous, so as to render the ingress of a moth or other large insect difficult. Internally are fourteen combs, exclusive of a globular mass, the nucleus of several circular combs, which are succeeded by others of an arched form—that is, constituting segments of circles.

Good writing, printing and wrapping paper, may be procured from the shavings of common wood. The wood must be reduced to shavings by the ordinary jack-plain shaving size. The shavings are then placed in a cistern or boiler sufficiently large, and covered with water, which should be raised to the boiling-point. To every one hundred pounds of the wood so reduced, from twelve to eighteen pounds of alkali, either vegetable or mineral, is to be added, in proportion to its quality for strength. If salts are used they should be reduced before coming in contact with the wood. The salts may, however, be put in with the water and wood before reduction, but the first method is the most preferable. Should lime be used, there must