96 INSECT BEHAVIOR 



she receives the reward for her perseverance and labor; and from 

 being a solitary unconnected individual, in the summer is enabled to 

 rival the queen, who gave her birth, in the number of her children 

 and subjects, and in the empire of which they are inhabitants. Even 

 at this time, when she has so numerous an army of helpers, the in- 

 dustry of this creature does not cease', but she continues to set an 

 example of diligence to the rest of the colony. If in any way the 

 queen mother perishes, before the other females are hatched, the 

 workers lose their instincts, cease their labors and die. 



The number of females in a paper wasp colony is quite consider- 

 able. They are hatched about the latter part of July or during the 

 first part of August, at the same time and in about the same numbers 

 as the males. In September and October, they fly from the nest 

 and after mating, the males live but a short time. Of all the females, 

 very few survive the winter to start the new empires when the vernal 

 sun brings the insect world to life again. 



To the workers falls the entire care of the young and other members 

 of the colony. They must not only supply the food, which consists 

 of honey and chewed-up insects, but they must also protect the nest 

 from outside intruders. These neuters must be ready and willing at 

 all times to do reconstruction work upon the rapidly growing nest. 

 Almost daily there are new cells to be built, walls to be strengthened, 

 openings to be closed and all manner of things which it is only proper 

 for a worker to do. Of all these operations no other is so interesting 

 as the process by which the wasp's paper is made. It is manufactured 

 of wood pulp or other ligneous fiber, which is scraped by the worker 

 from old weathered boards, fence rails and other unpainted wood 

 which has weathered for a number of years. I once found a pole 

 which supported a bird house, so thoroughly scraped by paper wasps 

 and so frequently visited by them that it was kept in a roughened 

 condition all summer. This pole must have supplied the pulp for 



