THE WASP. 



809 



The Leaf-cutting Bees make their nost and 

 lay their eggs among bits of leaves, very 

 artificially placed in holt's in the earth, of about 

 the length of a tooth-pick case. They make 

 the bits of leaves of a roundish form, and with 

 them line the inside of their habitations. 

 This tapestry is still further lined by a reddish 

 kind of paste, somewhat sweet or acid. 

 These bees are of various kinds ; those that 

 build their nests with chesnut leaves are as big 

 as drones, but those of the rose-tree are smal- 

 ler than the common bee. 



The Wall-Bees are so called because they 

 make their nests in walls, of a kind of silky 



membrane, with which they fill up the vacuities 

 between the small stones which form the sides 

 of their habitation. Their apartment consists 

 of several cells placed end to end, each in the 

 shape of a woman's thimble. Though the 

 web which lines this habitation is thick and 

 warm, yet it is transparent, and of a whitish 

 colour. This substance is supposed to be spun 

 from the animal's body. The males and fe- 

 males are of a size, but the former are without 

 a sting. To these varieties of the bee kind 

 might be added several others, which are all 

 different in nature, but not sufficiently distin- 

 guished to excite curiosity. 



CHAPTER CXXI. 



OF THE WASP. 



HOWEVER similar many insects may be 

 in appearance, this does not imply a simili- 

 tude in their history. The bee and the wasp 

 resemble each other very strongly, yet, in 

 examining their manner and their duration, 

 they differ very widely : the bee labours to 

 lay up honey, and lives to enjoy the fruits of 

 its industry : the wasp appears equally as- 

 siduous; but only works for posterity, as the 

 habitation is scarcely completed when the in- 

 habitant dies. 



The wasp is well known to be a winged 

 insect with a sting. To be longer in propor- 

 tion to its bulk than the bee. to be marked 

 with bright yellow circles round its body, and 

 to be the most swift and active insect of all 

 the fly kind. On each side of the mouth this 

 animal is furnished with a long tooth, notched 

 like a saw, and with these it is enabled to cut 

 any substance, not omitting meat itself, and 

 to carry it to its nest. Wasps live, like bees, 

 in community, and sometimes ten or twelve 

 thousand are found inhabiting a single nest. 



Of all other insects the wasp is the most 

 fierce, voracious, and most dangerous, when 

 enraged. They are seen wherever flesh is 

 cutting up. gorging themselves with the spoil, 

 and then flying to their nests? with their reek- 

 ing prey. They make war also on every 



other fly, and the spider himself dreads their 

 approaches. 



Every community among bees is composed 

 of females or queens, drones or males, and 

 neutral or working bees. Wasps have similar 

 occupations; the two first are for propagating 

 the species, the last for nursing, defending, 

 and supporting the rising progeny. Among 

 bees, however, there is seldom above a queen 

 or two in a hive ; among wasps there are 

 above two or three hundred. 



As soon as the summer begins to invigorate 

 the insect tribes, the wasps are tbe most of 

 the Dumber, and diligently employed either 

 in providing provisions for their nest, if al- 

 ready made; or in making one, if the former 

 habitation be too small to receive the increas- 

 ing community. The nest is one of the most 

 curious objects in natural history, and con- 

 trived almost as artificially as that of the bees 

 themselves. Their principal care is to seek 

 out a hole that has been begun by some other 

 animal, a field- mouse, a rat, or a mole, to 

 build their nests in. They sometimes build 

 upon the plain, where they are sure of the 

 dry ness of their situation ; but most common- 

 ly on the side of a bank, to avoid the rain or 

 water that would otherwise annoy them. 

 When they have chosen a proper place, they 



