332 Insects and their Surroundings 



The cells are regularly six-sided in shape, thus 

 ensuring the greatest economy oi space •, the comb 

 first formed by the queen consists of six or eight of 

 these cells, supported on a central stalk. From eggs 

 laid in them grubs are quickly hatched, and are fed 

 by the mother on a mixed diet of honey and insects. 

 When full-grown the larva is sealed up in its cell and 

 becomes transformed into a pupa which soon changes 

 into a young wasp. 



These young insects are the small undeveloped 

 females, or "workers," which form the vast majority 

 in all insect communities. A division of labour is 

 adopted, the queen devoting her attention chiefly or 

 altogether to egg-laying, while the workers, whose 

 ovaries are in a vestigial condition, build the nest and 

 tend and feed the young. In wasp-colonies the 

 workers enlarge the original comb by adding fresh 

 ceils around it, and then build successive storeys of 

 cells supported by pillars, surrounding the whole with 

 an outer wall oi several layers of paper which assumes 

 a pear-like shape, increasing in size through the 

 summer with the growth of the community. A wasp's 

 nest may ultimately hold several hundred inmates. 

 Towards the end of the season fully developed 

 females — " young queens" — and males — " drones" — 

 are produced. These leave the nest and pair — 

 usually with individuals from other nests ; such of the 

 young queens as survive the winter found fresh nests 

 in the succeeding spring. Each wasp community only 

 lasts from spring till autumn, and its dissolution may 

 be hastened by the workers, who, expecting a cessation 

 of the food-supply, cast out the undeveloped grubs 

 from the nest on the approach of winter (163, 164). 



The Humble-bees {Boinbus) form colonies, lasting, 

 like those of the wasps, only from spring till autumn ; a 

 queen, after wintering, herself starts the nest, the cells 



