The Common Wasp 



the action here accomplished conforms with 

 what is always done in similar circumstances 

 and does not call upon the shadowy intellect 

 for any fresh gleam of light. 



But she does not know how to get out, 

 though the difficulty remains precisely the 

 same. Like the Turkey of the American 

 naturalist, she is defeated by this problem: 

 to recognize as good for going out the road 

 which was recognized as good for going in. 

 Impatient to escape, both bird and insect rush 

 frantically to and fro, exhausting themselves 

 in their striving towards the light; and 

 neither pays any attention to the under- 

 ground passage, which would so readily give 

 them their liberty. Neither of them thinks 

 of it, because to do so would require a little 

 reflection and would thwart the impulse of 

 the moment, which is to flee far into the day- 

 light. Wasps and Turkeys alike perish, 

 rather than improve the present by the les- 

 sons of the past, when called upon to modify 

 their usual tactics be it ever so slightly. 



The Wasp has been extolled for inventing 

 the round Wasps'-nest and the hexagonal 

 cell, that is to say, for rivalling our geome- 

 tricians in solving the problem of the forms 

 which are most economical of space and ma- 

 terial. Men attribute to her ingenuity the 

 255 



