or possibly to surrender her material into fresh hands. Her career
when away from the nest is beset with dangers; the colony is never
large, and the safe return of every hornet is no doubt a matter of
solicitude to the royal mother.

The hornet was the first paper-maker, and holds the original
patent. The paper it makes is about like that of the newspaper;
nearly as firm, and made of essentially the same material,--woody
fibres scraped from old rails and boards. And there is news on it,
too, if one could make out the characters.

When I stopped the entrance with cotton, there was no commotion or
excitement, as there would have been in the case of yellow-jackets.
Those outside went to pulling, and those inside went to pushing and
chewing. Only once did one of the outsiders come down and look me
suspiciously in the face, and inquire very plainly what my business
might be up there. I bowed my head, being at the top of a twenty-
foot ladder, and had nothing to say.

The cotton was chewed and moistened about the edges till every
fibre was loosened, when the mass dropped. But instantly the
entrance was made smaller, and changed so as to make the feat of
stopping it more difficult.



IV

There are those who look at Nature from the standpoint of
conventional and artificial life,-- from parlor windows and through