The Mason-Wasps 



all around it the wherewithal to nourish it- 

 self and to thrive without outside help. 

 Under these conditions, the irregular group- 

 ing of the cells is of trifling importance; 

 disorder even is admissible, provided that 

 the whole group be in a place of safety, if 

 need be under the cover of a protective cas- 

 ing. Richly supplied with provender and 

 tranquil in its crypt, none of the recluses 

 expects anything from the outer world. 



Among the Social Wasps a very different 

 order of things obtains. Here the larvae, 

 from the beginning to the end of their 

 growth, are incapable of sufficing unto them- 

 selves. Like little birds in the nest, they 

 are fed by mouth; like babies in the cradle, 

 they need constant attention. The workers, 

 who are celibates expressly appointed to 

 perform household labours, come and go 

 incessantly, from bed-chamber to bed- 

 chamber; they awaken the sleepy larvae, 

 wash them with a lick of the tongue and 

 disgorge, from mouth to mouth, the ration 

 of the moment. So long as the larval state 

 continues there is no end to these alimentary 

 kisses between the nurselings gaping with 

 hunger and the nurses returning from the 

 fields, their crops swollen with pap. 



Nurseries of this kind, which, in the 

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