PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. I l5 



fcrgs to it, and cover them in, requires only the short 

 space of half an hour. Her family at first consists only 

 of workers, which are necessary to assist her in her la- 

 bours ; these appear in May and June : but the males 

 and females are later, and sometimes are not produced 

 before August and September^. As in the case of 

 the hive-bee, the food of these several individuals dif- 

 fers ; for the grubs that will turn to workers are fed 

 with honey and pollen mixed, while those that are 

 destined to be males and females are supplied with 

 pure honey. 



The instinct of these larger females does not de- 

 velop itself all at once : for it is a remarkable fact, that 

 when they are first hatched in the autumn, not being in 

 a condition to become mothers, they are no object of 

 jealousy to the small queens, (as we shall soon see they 

 are when engaged in oviposition,) and are employed in 

 the ordinary labours of the parent nest — that is, they 

 collect honey and pollen, and make wax ; but they do 

 not construct cells. The building instinct seems as it 

 were in suspense, and does not manifest itself till the 

 spring ; when the maternal sentiment impels them at 

 the same time to lay eggs and to construct the cells in 

 which they are to be deposited. 



I bave told you above, that amongst the wasps a 

 small kind o^ female has been discovered : this is the 

 case also amongst the humble-bees, in whose society 



* P. Huber, in Linn. Trans, vi. 264. — This author says however, in 

 another place (^ihid. S85), that the male eggs are laid in the spring, at tlic 

 same time with those that are to produce workers. Perhaps by the former 

 lie means the male ofTspringof the small females, and by the 'alter those 

 of the large ? » » 



1 2 



