72 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



soil its own legs and wings." So, too, they will pick 

 flies off the backs of pigs in their styes. They are 

 clever, too, in chasing and dodging insects to catch 

 them on the wing. When the prey is caught, the 

 wings, head, and legs, being more or less hard and dry 

 morsels, are bitten off, and the rest of the body de- 

 voured. Flies, butterflies, and even bees are treated in 

 this way. Unlike the Odyneri, they do not use their 

 stings in giving a quietus to their prey ; the action of 

 their powerful jaws is quite sufficient, without the aid 

 of the more deadly weapon. 



They are most industrious in the obtaining of supplies, 

 and well they may be, considering the number of hungry 

 mouths they have so constantly to fill; greedy grubs, 

 ever on the look-out for something good, demand all 

 the energies of even the large staff of workers that are 

 in continual attendance upon them. Sir John Lubbock 

 records a case of one of his wasps, which paid no less 

 than ninety-four visits to a store of honey in one day. 

 And in the performance of these duties they are not 

 only industrious, but wonderfully persistent, and un- 

 daunted by obstacles or dangers. The same diligent 

 observer records several instances in point. One wasp 

 had smeared its wings with the syrup on which it was 

 being fed, and so rendered itself incapable of flight ; 

 Sir John, therefore, put it in a bottle of water, and 

 gave it a bath, transferring it then to a dry bottle 

 placed in the sun, as the best means of getting it 

 dry. When quite recovered, it was allowed to go free, 

 and after thirteen minutes it returned to the syrup- 

 saucer that had been the scene of its former disaster, 

 and began to sip the liquid with as much avidity as 

 before, evidently quite undeterred by its sad experience. 

 Another was immersed in water till quite insensible, 



