| OCR Text |
Show ( 4 PAPERMAKIN sidered as a professional papermaker, devoting most of her tim and energies to the fabrication of this material which she uses i the construction of nests. For this purpose the wasp sceks dr wood,-fence-rails and weather-beaten boards are a favourit source of supply. This substance she saws or rasps by mastication mixes the macerated material with a natural size which is exude Ei purpose, and, working the whole into a paste, spreads th paper substance in @ manner truly remarkable. The nestis usuall a prolonged irregular spheroid, exceptionally light in weight, of dark grey colour, and bound with repeated bands of paper to th bough from which it is suspended. The nest is water resistant to high degree, partly from the rounded top, but more from the fac that the paper strips of which it is composed overlap, like the shingles of a house, and from the fact that a semi-waterproof size i used in the compostion. ‘The community of papermaking wasp may amount to thirty thousand in a single season, according t Réaumur. It is interesting to note Réaumur's condemnation o himselffor having neglected to attempt any experimentson his ow account in the making of paper from wood. In 1742 his commen wa "T am ashamed thatT have not yet tried this experiment, it i more than twenty years since I first realized its importance an made an announcement of it. But I had hoped that some on would have been interested in making it his occupation. The investigations of Réaumur, while not in actual papermaking, gave the hint to European scient from other substances than rags. Tn 17 mann (1697-1753), compiled a book on geology;* a few copies o \ ndr i st bechrcto n= ke als MDC. bergwerck i :dlz TR lnm:r;k o dajsigen Inndt{ un oerter, wo edelgesteine zu fin raphischer Drdmmg und cinigen kupfferit i lcl\tu« s i 1727-30.2 volumes. 22 al Imag © 2004 University of Utah. Al rights reserved |
