t$2 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



wasp, on the other hand, more industriously sets to work to 

 build its own house, walls and all, and the labour required 

 for such an undertaking is enormous. Wood, the material 

 it uses, is obtained by gnawing posts, gates, rails, or other 

 timber that has lost its sap. This is chewed up by the wasp's 

 strong jaws into a paste, and spread out with its tongue in 

 layers finer than tissue paper. Layer after layer is spread, 

 until the house, which varies in size from that of an apple to 

 one as large as a man's head, is made rain- and weather-tight, 

 a model of symmetry, and a marvellous example of the result 

 of patient and persevering labour, a white palace, by the side 

 of which anything the bee can do is but poor workmanship. 

 The arrangement inside the structure is at least equal to 

 that which the bee can accomplish in the most perfectly- 

 constructed hive. The cells are as regular and as carefully 

 arranged, and it is kept with the same scrupulous care and 

 cleanliness. It is not necessary for the wasp to collect 

 honey and pollen for the use of its brood, for these are fed 

 upon insects, the juicy caterpillar and the plump body of 

 the blue-bottle being the morsels which they mostly affect. 

 In the capture of its prey for the use of its young, the wasp 

 works as assiduously as does the owl to gather in field mice 

 for the sustenance of its offspring ; and each capture, after 

 being carried to the nest, is stowed away in the cell with the 

 egg, until it is full, and then the entrance securely sealed. 



The queen wasp is, in point of activity, energy, and intelli- 

 gence, far ahead of the queen bee. As soon as the latter leaves 

 her cell a perfect insect, she is waited upon by a crowd of 

 workers, who provide her with food, attend her every move- 

 ment, and forestall her every wish, and her functions are 

 confined solely to the laying of her eggs. The queen wasp, 



