AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 349 



without any further supply. By selecting these, there- 

 fore, and placing them uninjured in the hole, however 

 long the interval before the egg hatches, the disclosed 

 larva is sure of a sufficiency of fresh and wholesome nu- 

 triment. To prevent the possibility of any injury to its 

 egg from the motions or voracity of this living prey, the 

 wasp is careful to pack the whole so closely, each grub 

 being coiled above the other in a series of rings, and to 

 consolidate the earth so firmly above them, that they 

 have not the slightest power of motion a . Those which 

 select more powerful caterpillars, or revenge the injuries 

 of their insect brethren by devoting spiders to the de- 

 struction they have so often caused, take care to sting 

 them in such a manner as, without killing them outright, 

 will incapacitate them from doing any injury. 



Zeal and activity in providing for the well-being of 

 their future progeny, not inferior to what are exhibited 

 by the tribe of Ichneumons, Sphering, and mason-wasps, 

 though less cruelly exerted, are also shown by various 

 species of wild bees, of which we have in this country a 

 vast number. Having first excavated a proper cell with 

 a dexterity and persevering labour never enough to be 

 admired, they next deposit in it an egg, which they cover 

 with a mass of pollen or honey collected with unwearied 

 assiduity from a thousand flowers. As soon as the grub 

 is hatched, it finds itself enveloped in this delicious ban- 

 quet provided for it by the cares of a mother it is doomed 

 never to behold ; and so accurately is the repast propor- 



a Reaum. vi. 252. 



b By this term I would distinguish the tribe of Fossores of Latreille, 

 which the French call Wasp-Ichneumons, and which form the Lin- 

 nean genus Sphex, divisible into several families as Spheddce, Pom- 

 ptiickz, Bembecidce, &c. 



