24 PLLNY S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI. 



covered over with dung. Yirgil also says 75 that this may be done 

 with the body of a young bull, in the same way that the car- 

 case of the horse produces wasps and hornets, and that of the 

 ass beetles, Nature herself effecting these changes of one sub- 

 stance into another. But in all these last, sexual intercourse 

 is to be perceived as well, though the characteristics of the 

 offspring are pretty much the same as those of the bee. 



CHAP. 24. (21.) WASPS AND HORNETS : ANIMALS WHICH APPRO- 

 PRIATE WHAT BELONGS TO OTHERS. 



"Wasps build their nests of mud in lofty places, 76 and make 

 wax therein : hornets, on the other hand, build in holes or 

 under ground. "With these two kinds the cells are also hex- 

 agonal, but, in other respects, though made of the bark of trees, 

 they strongly resemble the substance of a spider's web. Their 

 young also are found at irregular intervals, and are of un- 

 sbapely appearance ; while one is able to fly, another is still a 

 mere pupa, and a third only in the maggot state. It is in 

 the autumn, too, and not in the spring, that all their young are 

 produced; and they grow during the full moon more par- 

 ticularly. The wasp which is known as the ichneumon, 77 a 

 smaller kind than the others, kills one kind of spider in parti- 

 cular, known as the phalangium ; after which it carries the 

 body to its nest, covers it over with a sort of gluey substance, 

 and then sits and hatches from it its young. 78 In addi- 

 tion to this, they are all of them carnivorous, while on the 

 other hand bees will touch no animal substance whatever. 

 Wasps more particularly pursue the larger flies, and after 

 catching them cut off the head and carry away the remaining 

 portion of the body. 



Wild hornets live in the holes of trees, and in winter, like 

 other insects, keep themselves concealed ; their life does not 

 exceed two years in length. It is not unfrequently that their 

 sting is productive of an attack of fever, and there are authors 

 who say that thrice nine stings will suffice to kill a man. Of 



">'" Georg. B. iv. 1. 284, et seq. 



76 Under roofs, and sometimes in the ground : hornets build in the hollows 

 of trees. 



77 Called " Sphaex " by Linnaeus. 



78 The true version is, that after killing the insect they bury it Trith their 

 eggs as food for their future young. 



