FAMILY LIFE 217 



feed on honey and pollen. Wheeler has pointed out how 

 an ichneumon fly sometimes licks up the blood of insects 

 that she has pierced with her ovipositor, and that this organ 

 may thus be used for self-feeding as well as for reproduction. 

 Somewhat similarly a digging- wasp, seizing a caterpillar 

 between her mandibles, may bite the neck of the victim, 

 and take a portion of liquid food from it for herself, before 

 depositing it in her nest as a food-store for her offspring. 

 This possibly close association of the feeding with the 

 reproductive instincts is believed by Wheeler to have been 

 of great importance in the development of true social life 

 among insects from such ordinary family relationships as 

 have been considered. Some of the wonderful and fasci- 

 nating facts and problems of insect societies may now there- 

 fore demand our attention. 



