THE WASP. 17 



from the rest ; and the whole becoming a kind of 

 soft paste, is removed to the mouth of the habita- 

 tion. The animal's provision of liquor in these 

 operations is however soon exhausted ; and it is 

 then seen taking up water either from some neigh- 

 bouring flower or stream, in order to supply the 

 deficiency. 



At length, after much toil, a hole some inches 

 deep is formed, at the bottom of which is a large 

 cavity; and to this no other hostile insect would 

 venture to find its way, from the length and the 

 narrowness of the defile through which it would 

 be obliged to pass. In this the solitary wasp lays 

 its egg, which is destined to continue the species ; 

 there the nascent animal is to continue for above 

 nine months, unattended and immured, and at 

 first appearance the most helpless insect of the 

 creation. But when we come to examine, new 

 wonders offer ; no other insect can boast so copi- 

 ously luxurious a provision, or such confirmed 

 security. 



As soon as the mother-wasp has deposited her 

 egg at the bottom of the hole, her next care is to 

 furnish it with a supply of provisions, which may 

 be offered to the young insect as soon as it leaves 

 the egg. To this end she procures a number of 

 little green worms, generally from eight to twelve, 

 and these are to serve as food for the young one 

 the instant it awakens into life. When this sup- 

 ply is regularly arranged and laid in, the old one 

 then, with as much assiduity as it before worked 

 out its hole, now closes the mouth of the passage ; 

 and thus leaving its young one immured in per- 



