HYMENOPTERA. 173 



solitary wasp by the fact that they fold their wings along 

 the back when they alight, plait them, that is, while the 

 wings of the solitary wasp are left flat when at rest. It 

 probably would be more nearly right to say that a wasp 

 which plaits its wings is one of the Vespina, since, because 

 of other features, it is necessary to include among the 

 wasps that fold their wings along their backs some wasps 

 that have the solitary habit clinging to them. The life 

 of the social wasps does not present so close a community 

 organization as does that of the bees and the ants. The 

 wasp colony, consisting of all the individuals hatching 

 from the eggs of one queen, persists during the spring, 

 summer, and autumn, but generally the only members 

 of the colony to hold over through the winter are the 

 fertilized females. The males usually die early. The 

 females hibernate in some sheltered place, ready to crawl 

 out with the coming of spring and begin the formation of 

 a new colony. Not only is this true, but the workers 

 are not, apparently, so well apportioned off into classes; 

 one worker seems to do several kinds of work. The 

 workers are smaller than the drones, and the wasp 

 mother is distinguished from the workers by her greater 

 size. (Fig. 71.) 



In the spring the mother wasps that have wintered 

 over make, one each, a nest containing a small number 

 of brood cells and lay one egg in each cell. Usually the 

 wasp provisions each cell with insects that she has killed 

 and partly chewed. The larvae of this first brood are fed 

 daily by the wasp mother, the food being of the same kind 

 each time; the larvae soon pupate in the cells. This 

 generation is a generation of workers; the brood which 

 consists of males and queens does not appear till later in 

 the season. The young workers begin at once to enlarge 



