CH. V.] 



THE SOLITARY WASP. 



113 



a The green caterpillar. 

 b The grub feeding on one. 

 r. The orifice leading to a cell. 

 d A vacated cell. 



to eat. Reaumur took the trouble of ascertaining 

 the quantity consumed, and found that, taking one 

 day with another, one caterpillar a day was not too 

 much. 



Here we meet with another instance of that sin- 

 gular faculty, by which the mother wasp is enabled 

 to apportion the exact quantity of food to the wants 

 of her offspring;. To some she gives twelve cater- 

 pillars, to others a less number, but in this case 

 they are of a larger size. Moreover, the food is 

 always of the same kind; for during the twelve 

 years in which Reaumur observed their manners, he 

 invariably found the same species of caterpillar en- 

 closed by these insects. 



The caterpillars are entombed alive ; but the poi- 

 son of the sting appears to render them insensible ; 

 at least this is the conjecture : some, therefore, must 

 remain without food for a fortnight, the period 



K2 



