During the summer the boys found several wasp’s nests. One was built under-ground at the roadside. Another was built inside a wren’s nest. The queen wasp who built it had driven the wrens out. A third nest hung from the branch of a gooseberry bush in the garden. [Illustration: Humble Bees and Nest.] The latter was watched by Uncle George and the boys as it grew larger and larger. Soon, however, the wasps became too numerous. One day they chased Tom and Frank out of the garden and stung them badly. Then Uncle George removed the nest. Putting on his bee-veil and gloves, he cut off the branch from which the nest hung. He put nest and branch inside a large box; and, having placed a saucer containing burning sulphur inside the box, he closed the lid. [Illustration: Nest of Tree Wasp.] In the morning the wasps were all dead, and the boys examined the huge nest. Thus they were able to see queens, workers, and male wasps, eggs, larvæ, and pupæ, and to make drawings of each. “What becomes of the wasps in winter?” Frank asked his uncle. “They come to a sad end, Frank,” said Uncle George. “They do not store food like the hive bee, and so, when the cold weather comes, they starve to death. [Illustration] Queen Humble Bee. Worker Humble Bee. “Our good-humoured and hard-working friend, the humble bee, shares the same fate. A few young queens leave the nest before winter comes on. These bury themselves in mossy banks and sleep the winter through.” Exercises on Lesson XI. 1. Look under low branches of larch and spruce trees in spring for the nest of the wasp. Make a drawing of it. Cut it open and examine the interior. 2. Compare a piece of the wall of the nest with the torn edge of (1) a piece of coarse brown paper and (2) a piece of ordinary newspaper. 3. Write out the life-history of a wasp. 4. Compare the combs of the hive bee with those of the wasp. Notice that the former are placed vertically in the nest, the latter horizontally. Observe how the wasp’s combs are kept apart. XII.—THE DANDELION. Uncle George and the boys were having a stroll along a lane where briar and hawthorn and all sorts of wild flowers grew. Although it was an October day the sun was shining brightly, and all along the wayside the golden flowers of the dandelion opened wide to the sunlight. “I thought that the dandelion was an early summer flower,” said Frank. “So it is,” said his uncle; “but this year the autumn has been so warm that our dandelions are flowering a second time. This often happens with many of our wild flowers during an extra mild season.