WASPS, SOCIAL AND SOLITARY 



Had we here then the small beginnings of moral sense 

 and perception of duty ? Can it be that of such humble 

 origin is the power that "doth preserve the stars from 

 wrong"? 



We went on with these meditations for several days 

 while lingering, with gradually diminishing hopefulness, 

 over one ant-hill after another. The wasps were carrying 

 in winged queens by the score, but they did not come 

 our way to find them; and although we ranged about 

 widely, we failed to see the capture. Occasionally we 

 met a frigidus hunting, running about on the ground 

 and poking her head, not only into ant holes, but into 

 holes of all sorts, and as we sometimes saw young queens 

 (wingless however) starting to dig their nests, we thought 

 these might be the object of the search. The weather 

 was cold and windy, most unpropitious for swarming, 

 and yet frigidus was working as briskly as ever; so that 

 we began to feel sure that she could not depend upon 

 meeting the queens outside the nest, but must enter to 

 get them. Just as this point we received a letter from 

 Mr. William M. Wheeler, well known as an authority on 

 ants, saying that he felt very sure that the wasp could 

 not extract the queens from the nest, but must find them 

 running on the ground, just after the nuptial flight, 

 before they dug their holes and started their colonies. 

 176 



