los 



Llt^E STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN iKSECTS. 



almost ready to pupate she seals up the cell and 

 proceeds to make a new one. Another species of 

 Synagris advances still further. Instead of placing 

 the caterpillar beside the wasp-grub, she masti- 

 cates the caterpillar to form a little pellet of food- 

 paste, and places it just below the- mouth of 

 the wasp-grub (See Plate 23, Fig. 10), just as is 

 done by the paper nest wasp. When the larva 

 is nearly ready to pupate the cell is sealed up. 



The Vespid Wasp (See Plate 24) advances 

 still further — the mother wasp lays the foun- 

 dation of the paper nest in spring. She makes 

 several cells and lays an egg in each, then has to 

 feed the "babies" which hatch out. These early 

 wasp-larvse pupate later and emerge as worker- 

 females, a special clste, which do not lay eggs, but 

 help their mother to feed the baby-wasps, to make 

 new cells, clean and enlarge old cells, etc., thus 

 making a true social community. In the autumn 

 males and females hatch out. The males soon 

 die and the fertilized females hide in crevices, under 

 stones, etc., till the spring comes, when each may 

 found a new nest and colony. Thus all the in- 

 habitants of the old nest die except the fertilised 

 females which were born in the late autumn, and 

 each wasp community only lasts for one year. The 

 deserted nests may survive long after communities 

 have died out. 



The highest form of social development is seen 

 by many species of ants and hive bees. The nest 

 of a bee will last for years, while those of ants 

 often last during the life time of a man. Their social 





