i 7 8 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



ON THE COMMON WASP, CHIEFLY AS 

 COMPARED AND CONTRASTED WITH 

 THE HIVE-BEE. 



[Continued from /. 162.] 



WHEN wasps are compared with bees, the 

 comparison is not always to the disad- 

 vantage of the wasp. 

 In nursery rhymes we say — 



" How doth the little busy bee 

 Improve each shining hour?" 



In point of fact, the wasp is the more industrious of 

 the two ; he rises up earlier to work, and later takes 

 rest, as proved by the observations of Sir J. Lubbock. 

 According to my experience the wasp is better 

 tempered than the bee ; she has no preconceived 

 antipathies against particular individuals, as the bee 

 has. I imagine few persons can visit a hive without 

 hearing the shrill note of one or more bees working 

 themselves up into a passion, and the more angry 

 they get the shriller and higher the note becomes. 



The wasp is much the more courageous of the two. 

 I remember watching a wasp enter a hive. In a few 

 moments I saw her ignominiously expelled by the 

 united efforts of four or five bees. She was then dashed 

 to the ground, where for a short time she lay panting 

 for breath ; then more at ease she began to preen her 

 wings, and when quite recovered she arose with 

 active wing and boldly flew into the hive again. 



The wasp exhibits as much ingenuity in making 

 her nest as the bee. All attend to the common 

 welfare assiduously. All show unchanging affection 

 for every member of the community. 



The male wasp, in carrying away dirt and dust and 

 in keeping his home clean, proves himself a much more 

 useful member of the community than the drone. 



The drone passes the live-long day basking in the 

 sunshine, varied now and then with swift but short 

 flights to show off his resounding pipes, after which 

 he returns with a good appetite for the sweets he has 

 had no hand in collecting. In the case of the bee 

 the union of the sexes takes place during flight, but 

 in wasps the union takes place when seated on boughs 

 or leaves. 



The queen bee has internecine battles to the death 

 with such of her rivals as have been spared by the 

 neuters ; at length, in despair of success, she leads 

 forth such of her descendants as remain faithful, and 

 remains an exile from her old home for the rest of 

 her days, while the new queen, her daughter, com- 

 placently usurps her place and reigns in her stead. 



The queen wasp lives in perfect amity and peace 

 with any number of daughter-queens. 



The neuter bees at the end of summer ruthlessly 

 put to death their brothers, the drones, as useless 

 cumberers of the ground, and devomers of other 

 people's earnings. 



The male wasps share to the last the provisions 



gathered by their sisters with ungrudging generosity, 

 and are allowed to die a natural death. 



Bees far surpass wasps in prudence and foresight ; 

 they lay up provisions for rainy days, and thus are 

 enabled to survive the rigours of winter. 



o 



Wasps confer no benefit on mankind, with the 

 exception of fertilizing a few of the umbellifera:, 

 which supply man with aromatic and culinary seeds. 



Bees, instead of eating, assist in fertilizing our 

 finest fruit, and the most beautiful flowers of our 

 gardens ; and, above all, they furnish us with ample 

 supplies of delicious honey, and of wax adapted for 

 many purposes. 



It is no drawback to us that they furnish us with 

 these supplies against their will ; it is satisfactory to 

 add that we are now able to compensate them for 

 their losses by giving them syrup of sugar to feed on 

 instead of taking away their lives in order to rob 

 them as of old. 



We are now, perhaps, better prepared to estimate 

 the value of the argument between a wasp and a bee, 

 as set forth in the little poem : — 



" A wasp met a bee that was just buzzing by, 

 And he said, ' Pretty cousin, can you tell me why 

 You are liked by the people better than I ? 



" ' My back shines as bright and as yellow as gold, 

 Transparent as gauze my wings I unfold, 

 And yet, for all that, I'm not loved, I am told. 



" 'Your coat is of russet, and dingy and brown ; 

 I only speak truth — pray do not you frown, 

 You still are the joy and the care of the town. 



" ' I am nimble and brisk, and up with the morn, 

 I enter all homes, however forlorn, 

 Yet all my advances are treated with scorn.' 



" ' "Tis true,' said the bee, as she rose on the wing, 



' Men own you are handsome, but then there's one thing 

 They cannot put up with, and that is — your sting.'" 



This seems to be like the case of the pot blaming the 



kettle for blackness ; at any rate, neither men nor 



bees appear to be quite impartial judges as to the 



"whole duty of wasps." 



J. Yates. 



Newcastle, Staffordshire. 



THE COLOURING AND BANDING IN 

 LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS. 



By Joseph W. Williams. 



I OPEN the discussion of the question as to what 

 was the primitive colour of our land and fresh- 

 water shells, and what was the form in which the 

 bands arose, with some amount of diffidence, for I 

 have not been so favourably situated for observation 

 in the field as some of my brethren workers have, 

 and have been obliged in some measure to their 

 kindness in forwarding me specimens for examination. 

 I also feel some small amount of compunction 

 because what I have to advance as theory is not the 

 view which has been generally acknowledged by 



