WASPS. 197 



wasps went to the trees and cut off berries and car- 

 ried them to the nest — one wasp carrying one berry. 

 As the wasp alighted on the nest with a berry 

 another home worker came forward and seized the 

 other end of the berry and the two stood and worked 

 at it till they had severed it with their jaws. 

 Then another wasp came forward to the wasps 

 which had half a berry and they further reduced it 

 till it finally disappeared. They did not go then 

 and feed the baby grubs, so that it is probable that 

 they were feeding- themselves and also sharing their 

 fruit with a wasp busy at home. 



During several weeks' heavy rain the nest was 

 quite unharmed. It was protected partly by leaves, 

 but the rain was very heavy, yet it seemed to run 

 off quickly from the smooth sloping surface. We 

 observed during the season the feeding of 

 the wasp-grubs, the enlarging of cells, the 

 emergence of adults from the pupal chamber aided 

 by the workers, and the cleaning out of such cells. 

 When the adult emerges a couple of workers aid 

 it, and stroke it with their antennae. It is pale at 

 first but soon gets the normal brown colour of 

 the worker and takes its place among its sisters, 

 foraging, cleaning and building. 



These wasps seem to have adapted themselves to 

 a mixed diet, for though normally they feed their 

 larvae on masticated spiders, the same larvae have 

 been reared in the later end of their life on vege- 

 tarian diet. 



P Also the adults feed on nectar of flowers, on 

 f juices of fruits. Yet we have observed workers 



