PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 107 



dustrious subjects, whose persons are attacked and pro- 

 perty plundered by them. Yet, with all this love of 

 pillage and other bad propensities, they are not alto- 

 gether disagreeable or unamiable ; they are brisk and 

 lively ; they do not usually attack unprovoked ; and 

 their object in plundering us is not purely selfish, but 

 is principally to provide for the support of the young- 

 brood of their colonies. 



The societies of wasps, like those of ants and other 

 social Jlijmenoptera, consist of females, males, and 

 workers. The females may be considered as of two 

 sorts : first, the females by way of eminence, much 

 larger than any other individuals of tlie community, 

 equalling six of the workers (from which in other re- 

 spects they do not materially ditler) in weight, and lay- 

 ing both male and female eggs. Then the small fe- 

 males, not bigger than the workers, and laying only 

 male eggs. This last description of females, which are 

 found also both amongst the humble-bees and hive-bees, 

 were first observed amongst the wasps by ]M. Perrot, 

 a friend of Huber's^. The large females are produced 

 later than the workers, and make their appearance in 

 the following spring ; and whoever destroys one of them 

 at that time, destroys an entire colony, of which she 

 would be the founder. They are more worthy of praise 

 than the queen-bee ; since upon the latter, from her 

 very first appearance in the perfect state, no labour 

 devolves, — all her wants being prevented by a host of 

 workers, some of which are constantly attending upon 

 her, feeding her, and permitting her to suffer no fa- 

 tigue; while others take every step that is necessary 

 * Iluber, Nouv, Obsciv. ii. 443. 



