246 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG, 



tender grubs of the nest, into whose extended mouths the successful 

 marauders, running with astonishing agihty from one cell to another, dis- 

 gorge successively a small portion of their booty in the same way that a 

 bird supplies her young. ^ Another party is charged with providing more 

 substantial aliment for the grubs of maturer growth. These wage war 

 upon bees, flies, and even the meat of a butcher's stall, and joyfully return 

 to the nest laden with the well-filled bodies of the former, or pieces of 

 the latter as large as they can carry. This solid food they distribute in 

 like manner to the larger grubs, which may be seen eagerly protruding 

 their heads out of the cells to receive the welcome meal. As wasps lay 

 up no store of food^, these exertions are the task of every day during the 

 summer, fresh broods of grubs constantly succeeding to those which have 

 become pupae or perfect insects; and in autumn, when the colony is 

 augmented to 20,000 or 30,000, and the grubs in proportion, the scene of 

 bustle which it presents may be readily conceived. 



Though such is the love of wasps for their young, that if their nest be 

 broken almost entirely in pieces they will not abandon it^, yet when the 

 cold weather approaches, a melancholy change ensues, followed by a cruel 

 catastrophe, which at first you will be apt to regard as ill comporting with 

 this affectionate character. As soon as the first sharp frost of October 

 has been felt, the exterior of a wasp's nest becomes a perfect scene of 

 horror. The old wasps drag out of the cells all the grubs and unrelent- 

 ingly destroy them, strewing their dead carcasses around the door of their 

 now desolate habitation. " What monsters of cruelty !" I hear you 

 exclaim, " what detestable barbarians !" But be not too hasty. When you 

 have coolly considered the circumstances of the case, you will view this 

 seemingly cruel sacrifice in a different light. The old wasps have no 

 stock of provisions : the bemmibing hand of Winter is about to incapaci- 

 tate them from exertion ; while the season itself affords no supply. What 

 resource then is left ? Their young must linger on a short period, suffering 

 all the agonies of hunger, and at length expire. They have it in their 

 power at least to shorten the term of this misery — to cut off its bitterest 

 moments. A sudden death by their own hands is comparatively a merci- 

 ful stroke. This is the only alternative ; and thus, in fact, this apparent 

 ferocity is the last effort of tender affection, active even to the end of life. 

 I do not mean to say that this train of reasoning actually passes through 

 the mind of the wasps. It is more correct to regard it as having actuated 

 the benevolent Author of the instinct so singularly, and without doubt so 

 wisely, excited. Were a nest of wasps to survive the winter, they would 

 increase so rapidly, that not only would all the bees, flies, and other 

 animals on which they prey, be extirpated, but man himself find them a 

 grievous pest. It is necessary, therefore, that the great mass should annu- 



' See Willughbyin Rai. Hist. Ins. 251. and Reaum. 



- There are however exceptions to this rule, as in the nesfs of some species of Polistes, 

 which fix them to trees, Ace, are found about a dozen cells filled with honey at the time 

 these nests contain cells destined to receive the larvae of females and of males, which ren- 

 ders the opinion of M. Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau probable, that this honey is destined in 

 part to nourish the former and to exercise some influence on the development of their genital 

 organs. Polistes Lecheguand, found in Paraguay and Monte Video, also stores up honey as 

 before mentioned (Lacordaire, Introd. d, VEntom. ii. 511.), as does Myrapetra scutellariSy 

 White. {Ann. Nat. Hist. vii. 320.) 



2 Reaum. vi. 174. 



