THE BEE AND THE WASP. 



IT is undeniable that the bee occupies a far higher 

 position in the regard of man than the wasp. The 

 bee is held up as an example to the young for its strict 

 attention to business, its forethought and prudence. It 

 has been made the object of much study; its habits and 

 manners have been watched in hives specially constructed ; 

 and the behaviour of the bees towards their queen and 

 towards each other has been as minutely investigated and 

 described, and is, indeed, almost as well known, as are the 

 customs of the ancient Greeks or Romans. The wasp, on 

 the other hand, is regarded with absolute hostility. It is 

 viewed as an idler, as an irritable and hot-tempered 

 creature, with no fixed aims and ends, prone to unprovoked 

 assaults, a disturber of picnics, an intruder in the domestic 

 circle a creature, in fact, to be promptly and summarily 

 put to death if opportunity offer itself. This hasty and 

 unjust conclusion is, in fact, the result of man's natural 

 selfishness. He does not really admire the bee because 

 the insect stores up food for its winter use, but because he 

 is able to plunder that store, and to make it available for 

 his pwn purposes. The squirrel, the field-mouse, and many 

 other creatures lay up stores for winter ; but, as man is not 



