Note x — BOOK VIII.

I have often admired how Wasps, Hornets, Ichneumon-Wasps, and other Insects that gather dry Materials for building their Nests, have found a proper matter to cement and glue their Combs, and line their Cells; which we find always sufficiently context and firm. But in all Probability, this useful Material is in their own Bodies; as ’tis in the Tinea vestivora, the Cadew Worm, and divers others. Goedart observes of his Eruca, Num. xx. 6. that fed upon Sallow-Leaves, that it made its Cell of the comminuted Leaves, glued together with its own Spittle, hæc pulveris aut arenæ instar comminuit, ac pituitoso quodam sui corporis succo ita maceravit, ut inde accommodatum subeundæ mutationi instanti locum sibi extruxerit. Domuncula hæc à communi Salicum ligno nihil differre videbatur, nisi quòd longè esset durior, adeò ut cultro vix disrumpi posset.