PERFECt SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 100 



October, when they pair. Of this largo number of fe- 

 males, very few survive the winter. Those that are 

 so fortunate remain torpid till the vernal sun recalls 

 them to life and action. They then fly forth, collect 

 provision for their young- brood, and are engaged in the 

 other labours necessary for laying- the foundation of 

 their empire : but in the summer months they are never 

 seen out of the nest. 



The male wasps are much smaller than the female, 

 but they weigh as much as two workers. Their an- 

 tennas are longer than those of either, not, like theirs, 

 thicker at the end, but perfectly filiform ; and their 

 abdomen is distinguished by an additional segment. 

 Their numbers about equal those of the females, and 

 they are produced at the same time. They are not so 

 wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of 

 the hive. They do not, indeed, assist in building the 

 nest and in the care of the young brood ; but they are 

 the scavengers of the community ; for they sweep the 

 passages and streets, and carry off all the filth. They 

 also remove the bodies of the dead, which are some- 

 times heavy burthens for them ; in which case two unite 

 their strength to accomplish the work; or, if a partner 

 be not at hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the 

 head of the defunct, and so effects its purpose. As they 

 make themselves so useful, they are not, like the male 

 bees, devoted by the workers to an universal massacre 

 when the impregnation of the females, tlie great end of 

 their creation, is answered; but they share the general 

 lot of the community, and are suffered to survive till 

 the cold cuts off them and the workers together. 

 The zcorke?^ are the most numerous, and to us the 



