6 BEES AND WASPS [CH. 



They are notoriously fine-weather insects, and love 

 a place in the sun above all else : in fact in dull 

 weather it is useless to expect to see any of them. 

 In size and colour they present a great diversity; 

 some are no bigger than ants, others attain a length 

 of about an inch ; some are uniformly black all over, 

 others black and red, others black and yellow like 

 the social- wasps. They all provide their larvae with 

 "fresh 1 animal food; some store caterpillars, some 

 beetles, some small species of bees, some grasshoppers, 

 some two-winged flies, some spiders for the nourish- 

 ment of their offspring. The prey of whatever kind 

 it may be is not actually killed but is merely para- 

 lysed; so that it remains fresh and virtually alive 

 until the grub of the digger devours it. The parent 

 digger secures this inert condition of her victims by 

 skilfully stinging one or more of the chief nerve 

 centres and rendering them inoperative by her poison. 

 The species are all " solitary," that is to say each 

 nest, or rather burrow, is the work of but one female ; 

 and she alone is responsible for the welfare of the 

 young. The various kinds make their burrows in all 

 sorts of places ; many dig holes in the earth, preferring 

 a light soil for obvious reasons, others dig galleries 

 into wooden posts or decaying tree trunks, or into 

 bramble steins, straws and similar objects. So far 

 as my own experience goes very few, not even the 

 largest, have a sting sufficiently powerful to penetrate 



