CHAPTER XVIII 



INSECTS (Continued): WASPS, ANTS, THE HONEY- 

 BEE AND OTHER BEES 



Wasps. The wasps are divided into two groups, viz., the 

 solitary or digger wasps (superfamily Sphecina), and the social 

 wasps (super-family Vespina). The Sphecina, as represented 

 in North America, include a dozen or more families, while the 

 Vespina include but three, but these latter wasps, or a few of 

 them, the hornets and yellow-jackets, are more often seen and 

 much better known popularly than the solitary wasps. Among 

 the solitary bees each female makes a simple nest, usually a 

 short burrow in the ground or in a plant stem (in the case of a 



FIG. 86. Digger-wasp, Ammophila, putting inch-worm into nest-burrow. 



(From life; natural size.) 



few parasitic kinds the wasp makes no special nest at all), lays 

 one or more eggs in it, stores it with food for the hatching larvae, 

 and closes it up. This food is usually other insects or spiders 

 stung to death or, more commonly, stung in such a way as not 

 to kill but paralyze the prey. When the wasp larvae hatch 

 they find their food all ready for them, devour it slowly as they 

 grow, pupate in the nest burrow, and finally issue as full 

 fledged wasps. 



The social wasps live, as is well known, in large communities 

 composed of an active egg-laying female or queen, a few males 



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