70 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



depositing an egg in each new cell as soon as it 

 is completed. The period of pupation is short, 

 and very soon the first worker Wasps emerge, 

 and begin at once to help to lighten the labours 

 of the queen-mother. They work hard at the 

 building of the combs, and as fast as they build 

 up the cells the queen-mother Wasp deposits her 

 eggs therein, so that there is soon established 

 a thriving colony which rapidly increases in its 

 population of workers. So throughout the 

 warm summer days the worker Wasps are busy 

 seeking food for themselves and the larvae, and 

 enlarging the nest as the increasing population 

 demands. As autumn approaches, perfect 

 females (the young princesses who will be the 

 queen-mothers) begin to appear, and very shortly 

 after, the males complete their metamorphosis 

 and emerge. Then the young princesses and 

 the males depart on their nuptial flight which 

 will secure the continuance of the species, for 

 only the young impregnated queens will survive 

 the winter. The workers left behind in the nest 

 proceed to destroy the remaining larvae and 

 pupae, and as the temperature falls lower with 

 the advance of autumn, and the food supply 

 ends, they also perish. The young queens soon 

 after their nuptial flight seek some snug and 

 sheltered nook wherein to pass the long dark 

 winter in the deep slumber of hibernation. 



