PERFECT SOCIETIES OF II^SECTS. 349 



are more worthy of praise than the queen-bee : since upon the latter, 

 from her very first appearance in tlie perfect state, no labour devolves — 

 all her wants being prevented by a host of workers, some of wliicii are 

 constantly attending upon her, feeding her, and permitting her to suffer no 

 fatigue ; while others take every step that is necessary for the safety and 

 subsistence of the colony. Not so our female wasp; — she is at first an 

 insulated being that has had the fortune to survive the rigours of winter. 

 When in the spring she iaj s the foundation of her future empire, she has 

 not a single worker at her disposal ; with her own hands and teeth she 

 often hollows out a cave wherein she may lay the first foundations of her 

 paper metropoUs ; she must herself build the first houses, and produce 

 from her own womb their first inhabitants, which in their infant state she 

 must feed and educate, before they can assist her in the great design. At 

 length she receives the reward of her perseverance and labour ; and from 

 being a solitary unconnected individual, in the autumn is enabled to rival 

 the queen of the hive in the numl^er of her children and subjects, and in 

 the edifices which they inhabit — the number of cells in a vespiary some- 

 times amounting to more than 16,000, almost all of which contain either 

 an egg, a grub, or a pupa, and eacli cell serving for three generations in a 

 year; which, after making every allowance for failures and other casualties, 

 will give a population of at least 30,000. Even at this time, when she has 

 so numerous an army of coadjutors, the industry of this creature does not 

 cease, but she continues to set an example of diligence to the rest of the 

 community. If by any accident, before the other females are hatched, the 

 queen-mother perishes, the neuters cease their labours, lose their instincts, 

 and die. 



The number o? females in a populous vespiary is considerable, amounting 

 to several hundred ; they emerge from the pupa about the latter end of 

 August, at the same time with the males, and fly in September and October, 

 when they pair. Of this large number of females, very few survive the 

 winter. Those that are so fortunate remain torpid till the vernal sun 

 recalls them to life and action. They then fly forth, collect provision for 

 their young brond, and are engaged in the other labours necessary for lay- 

 ing the foundation of their empire ; but in the summer months they are 

 never seen out of the nest. 



The male wasps are much smaller than the female, but they weigh as 

 much as two workers. Their antenna are longer than those of either, not, 

 like theirs, thicker at the end, but perfectly filiform ; and their abdomen is 

 distinguished by an additional segment. Their numbers about equal those 

 of the females, and they are produced at the same time. They are not so 

 ■wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of the hive. They do 

 not, indeed, assist in building the nest, and in the care of the young brood ; 

 but they are the scavengers of the conmiunity ; for they sweep the j)assages 

 and streets, and carry off all the filth. They also remove the bodies of the 

 dead, which are sometimes heavy burdens for them ; in which case two 

 unite their strength to accomplish the work ; or, if a partner be not at 

 hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the head of the defunct, and so 

 effects its purpose. As they make themselves so useful, they are not, like 

 the male bees, devoted by the workers to an universal massacre when 

 the impregnation of the females, the great end of their creation, is an- 

 swered ; but they share the general lot of the community, and are suffered 

 to survive till the cold cuts off them and the workers together. 



