148 WASPS AND THEIR WAYS 



interesting to watch them feed the infants, 

 and feed the drones when those large and 

 lazy fellows began to come out of their 

 cells. 



One morning a hole was noticed in a 

 queen cell, and a pair of jaws were at 

 work inside enlarging it. The observer 

 was too impatient to await the slow 

 process of my lady's natural emergence, 

 and with a long hat-pin gently assisted 

 her in tearing off the cap. Then forth 

 stepped the handsome young queen, the 

 first of the season. 



The workers near her cell greeted her 

 appearance with some show of interest, 

 running to her, caressing her with their 

 antennas, and feeding her from their 

 mouths, though they had paid no atten- 

 tion to the coming forth of drones or 

 workers. 



The queen differs from the workers in 

 her fuller development. She doubtless 

 is the product of abundant nutriment. 



