The Common Wasp 



from asphyxiation. By moderating the dose 

 of petrol I can easily obtain a number of 

 Wasps afflicted merely with a passing torpor, 

 which enables me to collect them without be- 

 ing stung and which disappears as the suffer- 

 ers are exposed to the air. Note also that, 

 even with a fairly strong dose of petrol, cap- 

 able of killing all the adults, the larvae do not 

 succumb. Mere digesting bellies, they hold 

 out when the more delicately-organized 

 adults perish. Safe from misadventure, I 

 have been able in this way to establish in a 

 cage a portion of a nest rich in eggs and 

 larvae, with some hundred neuters as at- 

 tendants. 



To facilitate my inspection, I separate the 

 combs and place them side by side, with the 

 openings of the cells turned upwards. This 

 arrangement, which reverses the normal, 

 does not appear to annoy my captives, who, 

 soon recovering from their disturbance, set 

 to work as if nothing unusual had occurred. 

 In case they should wish to build, I give them 

 a slip of soft wood to draw upon. Lastly, 

 I feed them with honey, poured into a pool 

 on a strip of paper and renewed daily. The 

 underground cavern is represented by a large 

 earthen pan surmounted by a wire-gauze 

 cover. A cardboard dome, placed over the 

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