8 On the Study of Nature and Science, 



duties ; and although it seemed to me that all those which 

 were in activity about the original nest possessed stings, many 

 of those which afterwards came out did not : possibly these, 

 like the drones among bees, were the males, and produced 

 only at the close of the season. As it is evident that the 

 lives of all are limited to the close of the autumn, how and in 

 what state are the females preserved, to continue the breed ? 

 In general, the female wasps make their appearance in April 

 and May ; and as each of these is found to be the origin and 

 mother of a colony, I always take every means in my power 

 to destroy all that can be met with at that time. 



I once found a circle of six or eight cells, each containing 

 a larva approaching to the perfect state, in some old thatch 

 that had been thrown off a wall during the winter, which I 

 supposed to be female wasps ; but I could not exactly make 

 out whether they were so, or humble bees. 



Whilst writing, I will take the liberty to remark, that, as 

 science is " demonstrative truth," all writers who profess to 

 ground their works on science should adhere to it in their 

 descriptions ; as without this the unerring principles of science 

 are often deprived of the confidence due, from being con- 

 founded with the fallacious suppositions of theory : and thus 

 unjust prejudices are raised and increased against books on 

 science : and further, when the objects of Nature are misre- 

 presented, her designs are made to appear imperfect; and 

 hence one of the important effects of the study of nature is 

 unjustly depreciated. I am led to make these observations by 

 a description of your fair correspondent. Miss Kent ( Vol. I. 

 p. 223.) ; wherein, upon describing the different parts of a 

 flower, she says of the pistil : " The stigma is more or less 

 covered with a glutinous moisture ; the pollen being shed upon 

 this part, adheres to the glutinous moisture, and, by means of 

 the hollow style which connects it with the germen, feeds the 

 young fruit until it has attained its full growth. Thus sits the 

 style, like a hen bird upon her eggs ; while the stamen, like a 

 tender mate, supplies her with food." Whereas, the fact is, 

 the style merely forms a channel for conveying the living 

 principle contained in the pollen to the embryo seeds ; which 

 operation being effected, it withers and dies, and this long 

 before either the fruit or seeds attain their full growth. 



I am. Sir, yours, &c. 

 WeymoutJi, JuLy^ 1829. Joseph Hayward. 



