56 



m a marvellous manner, indued with the power to lay 

 eggs. It has been found, according to Dr. Ormerod, that 

 the eggs laid by the workers, produce only male brood. The 

 nest is continued for a time, though with the queen all order 

 and regularity vanish; cells are built crowded together in the 

 most disorderly style, and numbers of eggs are laid in the same 

 cell, so that it is impossible for the larvae, when they emerge, to 

 grow to their proper size. 



Two nests of V. Rufa, in which the queen had perished on 

 account of the wetness of the season, were taken from their natural 

 cavity. Each c ataincd a single comb, that in the one about an 

 inch and a half in diameter and that of the other about an inch. 

 The cells in each contained a profusion of eggs, as well as larvte 

 of various sizes. In many of the cells the larvse had become full- 

 fed and had spun themselves up, in which case, as well as where 

 they had attained to anything like their fi;ll size, they occujiied 

 each a separate cell, while each of the remaining cells contained 

 either a group ot eggs or a number of larvae. Both these colonies 

 consisted of workers of the ordinary size, the whole of which were 

 carefully secured, and in both instances fresh eggs continued to 

 be deposited by them after the nests had been removed and had 

 been placed in a I'avourable situation for wo'k. 



In order to ascertain what proportion of the workers 

 possessed the power of producing eggs, the whole number were 

 cbloroformefd so as to cause them to 



" Sleep the sleep that knows no •waliing," 

 and then a post mortem examination of the bodies was made, 

 the result of which was that in each case one in every live or six 

 was found to contain a mass of eggs, some ready for extrusion, 

 others in a less advanced state. A number of these eggs pre- 

 served in spirits, and also the insects from whose bodies they 

 were extracted, were placed in the hands of Mr. F. Smith of the 

 British Museum. 



Wasps, like different kinds of birds, seem to affect particular 

 localities ; for in some districts, even in the most favourable 

 seasons, you will have great difficulty in meeting with a single 

 nest, while in others you will rarely fail to find several even in 

 unfavourable seasons. Nor does the employment of artificial 

 means appear to be more effectual in inducing these insects per- 



