21 



ABSTRACT OF A PAPER 



UEAD BY 



J. MORRIS STONE, Esq., B.A., 



ON 



THE HABITS AND ECONOMY OF WASPS 



(From observations by the late Stephen Stone, Esq., F.S.A., Son. Member of 



the Ashmolean Society J. 



On APRIL 26th, 1882. 



Wasps belong to the class of insects termed Hymenoptera. 

 Like the common honey bee, which also belongs to this class, 

 they form themselves into colonies, living and working in society. 

 These colonies, as is also the case with the honey bee, consist of 

 males, females, and neuters, which last are imperfectly developed 

 females, and upon them devolves the principal part of the work 

 connected with the nest. They are furnished, by way of defence, 

 with stings ; while the males, whose avocations do not call them 

 much from home, and who, consequently, are not much exposed 

 to danger, and therefore do not require a defence against it, are 

 unprovided with these weapons. The females have not only 

 more formidable stings than the neuters, but are also endowed 

 with superior strength ; an all-wise provision, because on their 

 safety depends the rise and fall of the colony, and consequently 

 the perpetuation of the species. The males are to be distinguished 

 from the neuters by their longer and more slender bodies, and 

 longer antennae, and the females by their larger size, they being 

 more than double the size of either males or neuters. 



The only individuals who survive the winter are the females 

 produced the previous autumn. Both males and neuters, at the 

 close of that season, dwindle away and die, while the young 

 females proceed to lay themselves up in secure places, and pass 

 the Avinter in a torpid state. We thus see that, like the honey 

 bee, these insects do not require a supply of food for the winter ; 

 on the approach of that season the nest becomes entirely deserted, 

 not a single wasp remaining in it. 



The warmth of the returning spring having aroused the 

 females from their winter's sleep, they may be seen in search of 

 proper receptacles for the nest they are about to form. Having 

 discovered a suitable cavity, the deserted burrow of a field mouse 

 being, perhaps, more generally selected than any other, it pro- 

 ceeds to attach its work to the centre of the roof of the 



