Did the Snail even invent this cunning curve himself? No, for all the molluscs with turbinate shells, those which dwell in the sea and those which live in fresh water or on land, obey the same laws, with variations of detail as to the conoid on which the typical spiral is projected. Did the present-day builders accomplish it by gradually improving on an ancient and less exact curve? No, for the spiral of abstract science has presided over the scrollwork of their shells ever since the earliest ages of the globe. The Ceratites, the Ammonites and other molluscs prior in date to the emergence of our continents coil their shells in the same fashion as the Planorbes [64] of our books. The logarithmic spiral of the mollusc is as old as the centuries. It proceeds from the sovran Geometry which rules the world, attentive alike to the Wasp’s cell and to the Snail’s spiral. “God,” says Plato, “is ever the great geometer: Αεὶ ὁ Θεὸς γεομετρεῖ.” Here truly is the solution of the problem of the Wasps. CHAPTER X THE COMMON WASP In September, with my little son Paul, who lends me his good sight and his artless attention, undisturbed as yet by anxious thoughts, I sally forth at a venture, questioning the edges of the foot-paths with my glance. At twenty yards’ distance my companion has just seen rising from the ground, shooting up and flying away, now one and now another swiftly moving object, as though some tiny crater in eruption in the grass were hurling forth projectiles. “Wasps’-nest!” he cries. “Sure as anything, a Wasps’-nest!” We approach discreetly, fearing to attract the attention of the fierce community. It is indeed a Wasps’-nest. At the entrance to the vestibule, a round opening large enough to admit a man’s thumb, the inmates come and go, busily passing one another in opposite directions. Brrr! A shudder runs through me at the thought of the unpleasant time which we should have were we to draw the attack of the irascible soldiery by too close an inspection. Without making further investigations, which might cost us dear, let us mark the spot. We will return at nightfall, when the whole legion will have come home from the fields. The conquest of a nest of Common Wasps (Vespa vulgaris, Linn.) would be a rather serious undertaking if one did not practise a certain prudence. Half a pint of petrol, a reed-stump nine inches long, a good-sized lump of clay or loam, ready tempered by kneading: such is my equipment, which I have come to consider the best and simplest, after various trials with less effectual means.