398 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



in bulk, and its fat sides fill the space. As the grub grows, the mother-wasp builds 

 up the cell walls, making them hexagonal in form like the wax cells qf the honey-bee, 

 and also begins other cells around them in which more eggs are deposited. The 

 first batch of grubs become full fed, and then each spins a papery cap across the 

 mouth of its cell, and throwing off its last grub-skin, becomes a chrysalis. In about 

 four weeks from the day the first few eggs were laid an equal number of worker-wasps 

 emerge from the cells. After resting quietly for awhile, in order to let their new 

 integuments harden, these workers take up the duties of nm-se, caterer, and builder. 

 The wasp-princess is now a queen with a select circle of subjects. The new arrivals, 

 without any instruction, know how to enlarge the nest-hall, to build new combs, 

 and to spread out additional layers of paper walls to increase the warmth of the 

 dwelling, and so hasten the development of the second batch of larvae. There is 



no need for the 

 queen to do any of 

 this work — anything, 

 in fact, but to lay 

 eggs ; and as soon as 

 her worker-daughters 

 — imperfect females 

 — can construct more 

 cells she is ready to 

 supph' the eggs. The 

 old cells, too, which 

 were the cradles of 

 these workers, have 

 other grubs in them 



L .\Di.KuKuu.\D Nest ok Common Wasp. 



[/. Hoiihi 



A bank has been partly cut away to show the nest in position. It hangs suspended by a paper 

 strap to a tough root. The hole near the top is an ar.cidental tear made by the excavator. The 

 entrance to the nest is underneath not visible in this view. 



already. Soon, with 

 fresh batches of wasps 

 emerging frequently 

 from the combs, there 

 is a considerable 

 population. All these 

 new arrivals are 

 workers, until late in the summer or early in the autunni no males or perfect females 

 are produced. 



A noteworthy example of the wasp's readiness to cope with unexpected 

 difficulties came under observation last summer. The nest was built in the bank 

 of a rock-garden, and only two or three inches from the entrance-hole was the 

 netting of the tennis-court. We had noticed with some surprise that, though home- 

 coming wasps flew through the meshes without hesitation or difficulty, the streams 

 of outgoing wasps made a sharp turn to the right or left to avoid the net. We could 

 not understand the reason for this difference, but evidently it was a real trouble, 

 for one day we noticed three workers hanging to the net by jaws and feet, and 

 revolving round the twine the better to cut it through. Before long there was a hole 

 in the net immediately opposite the entrance to their nesting-hole, and the out- 



