Most persons have more or less acquaintance with the hives of the social species of bees and wasps; but little is generally known of the nests constructed by the solitary species, though in many respects these are not inferior to the others in displays of ingenuity and skill. We admire the social bees, labouring together for one common end, in the same way that we look with delight upon the great division of labour in a well-ordered manufactory. As in a cotton-mill some attend to the carding of the raw material, some to its formation into single threads, some to the gathering these threads upon spindles, others to the union of many threads into one,--all labouring with invariable precision because they attend to a single object;--so do we view with delight and wonder the successive steps by which the hive-bees bring their beautiful work to its completion,--striving, by individual efforts, to accomplish their general task, never impeding each other by useless assistance, each taking a particular department, and each knowing its own duties. We may, however, not the less admire the solitary wasp or bee, who begins and finishes every part of its destined work; just as we admire the ingenious mechanic who perfects something useful or ornamental entirely by the labour of his own hands,--whether he be the patient Chinese carver, who cuts the most elaborately-decorated boxes out of a solid piece of ivory, or the turner of Europe, who produces every variety of elegant form by the skilful application of the simplest means. Our island abounds with many varieties of solitary wasps and bees; and their nests may therefore be easily discovered by those who, in the proper seasons, are desirous of observing the peculiarities of their architecture. [Illustration: _Odynerus._--Natural size.] Mason-Wasps.