B. IX.] THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. 2G9 



when the rulers have found a place properly situated, at 

 the beginning of summer, they form their combs and bui]d 

 the wasps nests, as they are called ; these are small, with four 

 holes, or thereabouts ; in these working wasps are produced, 

 and not mother wasps. "When these are grown, they after- 

 wards build larger nests, and again larger still, as ' the 

 swarm increases, so at the end of autumn the nests are very 

 numerous and large, and in these the mother wasps no 

 longer produce workers but mothers. These larger maggots 

 are produced on the top of the upper part of the nest, in 

 four or rather more adjoining cells, very like those of the 

 rulers in their combs. When the working wasps are pro- 

 duced in the combs, the rulers no longer labour, but the 

 workers bring them food ; this is evident, from the rulers 

 never flying away from the workers, but remaining quietly 

 within. 



4. Whether the rulers of the previous year, when they 

 have produced new rulers, die at the same time as the young 

 wasps, or whether they survive a longer period, no one has 

 ever observed, nor has anyone ever observed the old age of 

 the mother wasps, or of the wild wasps, or any other of their 

 affections. The mother wasp is broad and heavy, and thicker, 

 and larger than the working wasp, and her weight prevents 

 her from being very active in night, neither can she fly far, 

 but always sits in the wasps' nests, and fashions and arranges 

 the internal parts. 



5. There are generally mother wasps in the nests, but 

 there is some doubt whether they have stings or not ; they 

 seem, however, like the rulers among the bees, to have 

 stings, though they never put them out nor sting ; some 

 wasps, like the drones, are without stings, others have a sting. 

 Those that are without stings are smaller, and not so angry, 

 neither do they defend themselves ; those which are fur- 

 nished with a sting are larger, and strong ; some call these 

 the males, and those which have no sting the females. To- 

 wards winter many of those that have stings appear to lose 

 them, though we have never met with eye-witnesses of this 

 circumstance. 



6. Wasps are more abundant in dry seasons and rough 

 places ; they are produced beneath the earth, they make their 

 Combs of collected materials and of earth, eac-L springing 



