198 HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



As formerly mentioned, wasps of different sexes differ great- 

 ly in size. The animals know how to construct cells propor- 

 tioned to the dimensions of the fly that is to proceed from the 

 egg which the female deposits in them. The neuters are 

 six times smaller than the females, and their cells are built 

 nearly in the same proportion. Cells are not only adapted 

 for the reception of neuters, males and females, but it is re- 

 markable that the cells of the neuters are never intermixed 

 with those of the males or females. A comb is entirely oc- 

 cupied with small cells fitted for the reception of neuter 

 worms. But male and female cells are often found in the 

 same comb. The males and females are of equal length, 

 and of course require cells of an equal deepness. But the 

 cells of the males are narrower than those of the females, 

 because the bodies of the former are never so thick as those 

 of the latter. 



This wonderful assemblage of combs, of the pillars which 

 support them, and of the external envelope, is an edifice 

 which requires several months' labor, and serves the animals 

 one year only. This habitation, so populous in summer, is 

 almost deserted in winter, and abandoned entirely in spring ; 

 for, in this last season, not a single wasp is to be found in a 

 nest of the preceding year. It is worthy of remark, that the 

 first combs of a nest are always accommodated for the recep- 

 tion of the neuter or working wasps. The city, of which the 

 foundation has just been laid, requires a number of workmen. 

 The neuter or working wasps are accordingly first produced. 

 A cell is no sooner half completed than an egg of a neuter is 

 deposited in it by the female. Of fourteen or fifteen combs 

 inclosed in a common cover, the four last only are destined 

 for the reception of males and females. Hence it uniformly 

 happens, that, before the males and females are capable of 

 taking flight, every wasp's nest is peopled with several thou- 

 sand neuters or workers. But the neuters, who are first pro- 

 duced, are likewise the first that perish ; for not one of them 

 survives the termination even of a mild winter. It was re- 

 marked by the ancient naturalists, that some wasps lived one 

 year only, and others two. To the former, Aristotle gives the 

 appellation of operarii, which are our workers or neuters, and 

 to the latter matrices, which are our females. 



The female wasps are stronger, and support the rigors of 

 winter better than the males or neuters. Before the end of 

 winter, however, several hundred females die, and not above 

 ten or a dozen in each nest survive that season. These few 



