232 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 



There arc three kinds of individuals amongst the wasps, as there 

 arc amongst the ants, namely, males, females, and neuters or 

 workers, and these last are really females which never lay eggs, 

 but which are provided with wings, and yet differ much from the 

 perfect females. These insects live in societies, the individuals 

 of which are more or less numerous according to the species. 

 Usually the assemblage only lasts a year, and it breaks up at the 



THE NESTS AND ADULT INSECTS OF Eimieiies pomiforviis. 



The capsules with holes in them have been opened hy the perfect insects after 

 metamorphoses, but the others still contain larvcc or nymphs. 



their 



commencement of cold weather ; by that time the males are all 

 dead, then the workers begin to die off, and only the true females 

 manage to hybernate by seeking refuge in the holes of walls, 

 cavities of old trees, or wherever they can hide themselves easily 

 and get out of the way of the cold. In the early spring a solitary 

 female, a mother, begins to build a nest ; it is small at first, the 

 cells of it are few in number, and an q^^ is laid in each. 



As soon as the larvae are born the wasp wanders to and fro 

 for food for them, and spares no pains in order to provide its 



