PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 109 



time with the males, and fly in September and October, 

 when they pair. Of this large number of females, very 

 few survive the winter. Those that are so fortunate 

 remain torpid till the vernal sun recalls them to life and 

 action. They then fly forth, collect provision for their 

 young brood, and are engaged in the other labours 

 necessary for laying the foundation of their empire : but 

 in the summer months they are never seen out of the 

 nest. 



The male wasps are much smaller than the female,- 

 but they weigh as much as two workers. Their antennae 

 are longer than those of either, not, like theirs, thicker at 

 the end, but perfectly filiform ; and their abdomen is di- 

 stinguished by an additional segment. Their numbers 

 about equal those of the females, and they are produced 

 at the same time. They are not so wholly given to plea- 

 sure and idleness as the drones of the hive. They do 

 not, indeed, assist in building the nest, and in the care of 

 the young brood; but they are the scavengers of the com- 

 munity; for they sweep the passages and streets, and carry 

 off all the filth. They also remove the bodies of the 

 dead, which are sometimes heavy burthens for them; in 

 which case two unite their strength to accomplish the 

 work ; or, if a partner be not at hand, the wasp thus em- 

 ployed cuts off the head of the defunct, and so effects its 

 purpose. As they make themselves so useful, they are 

 not, like the male bees, devoted by the workers to an uni- 

 versal massacre when the impregnation of the females, 

 the great end of their creation, is answered ; but they 

 share the general lot of the community, and are suffered 

 to survive till the cold cuts off them and the workers to- 

 gether. 



