FABRES BOOK OF INSECTS 



In a Wasp community there is a large number of 

 Wasps whose whole life is spent in work. It is their 

 business to enlarge the nest as the population grows; 

 and though they have no grubs of their own, they nurse 

 the grubs in the cells with the greatest care and industry. 

 Wishing to watch their operations, and also to see what 

 would take place at the approach of winter, I placed 

 under cover one October a few fragments of a nest, con- 

 taking a large number of eggs and grubs, with about 

 a hundred workers to take care of them. 



To make my inspection easier I separated the combs 

 and placed them side by side, with the openings of the 

 cells turned upwards. This arrangement, the reverse 

 of the usual position, did not seem to annoy my 

 prisoners, who soon recovered from the disturbance and 

 set to work as if nothing had happened. In case they 

 should wish to build I gave them a slip of soft wood; 

 and I fed them with honey. The underground cave in 

 which the nest hangs out of doors was represented by 

 a large earthen pan under a wire-gauze cover. A re- 

 movable cardboard dome provided darkness for the 

 Wasps, and — when removed — light for me. 



The Wasps' work went on as if it had never been 

 interrupted. The worker-Wasps attended to the grubs 

 and the building at the same time. They began to 

 raise a wall round the most thickly populated combs; 



[148] 



