196 HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



The constructing of the nest occupies a comparatively 

 small number of laborers. The others are differently em- 

 ployed. Here it is necessary to remark, that the republics of 

 wasps, like those of the honey-bees, consist of three kinds of 

 flies, males, females, and neuters. Like the bees, also, the 

 number of neuters far surpasses that of both males and fe- 

 males. The greatest quantity of labor is devolved upon the 

 neuters ; but they are not, like the neuter bees, the only 

 workers ; for there is no part of their operations which the 

 females, at certain times, do not execute. Neither do the 

 males, though their industry is not comparable to that of the 

 neuters, remain entirely idle. They often occupy themselves 

 in the interior part of the nest. The greatest part of the labor, 

 however, is performed by the neuters. They build the nest, feed 

 the males, the females, and even the young. But while the 

 neuters are employed in these different operations, the others 

 are abroad in hunting parties. Some attack with intrepidity 

 live insects, which they sometimes carry entire to the nest ; 

 but they generally transport the abdomen or belly only. Oth- 

 ers pillage butchers' stalls, from which they often arrive with 

 a piece of meat larger than the half of their own bodies. 

 Others resort to gardens, and suck the juices of fruits. When 

 they return to the nest, they distribute a part of their plunder 

 to the females, to the males, and even to such neuters as have 

 been usefully occupied at home. As soon as a neuter enters 

 the nest, it is surrounded by several wasps, to each of whom 

 it freely gives a portion of the food it has brought. Those 

 who have not been hunting for prey, but have been sucking 

 the juices of fruits, though they seem to return empty, fail not 

 to regale their companions ; for, after their arrival, they .station 

 themselves upon the upper part of the nest, and discharge 

 from their mouths two or three drops of a clear liquid, which 

 are immediately swallowed by the domestics. 



The neuter wasps, though the most laborious, are the 

 smallest ; but they are extremely active and vivacious. The 

 females are much larger, heavier, and slower in their move- 

 ments. The males are of an intermediate size between that 

 of the females and neuters. From these differences in size, 

 it is easy to distinguish the different kinds of those wasps 

 which build their nests below the ground. In the hive of the 

 honey-bee, the number of females is always extremely small ; 

 but in a wasp's nest there are often more than three hundred 

 females. During the months of June, July, and August, tifey 

 remain constantly in the nest, and are never seen abroad, ex 



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