ioo INSECT BEHAVIOR 



charine fluid, is attended sometimes by two at once, who share the 

 treasure. The first drop being thus distributed, a second and some-, 

 times a third is produced, which falls to the lot of the others. 



"Wasps do not, as a rule, store up honey, but it is found in the cells 

 of some European species as well as in those of America. 



"Another principal enjoyment of the workers is enlarging and re- 

 pairing the nest. They work with great celerity; and though a large 

 number are occupied at the same time, there is not the slightest con- 

 fusion. Each individual has its portion of work assigned to it, ex- 

 tending from an inch to an inch and a half, and is furnished with a 

 ball of ligneous fiber, scraped by its powerful jaws from posts, rails 

 and the like. The workers also clean the cells and prepare them to 

 receive another egg, after the first has passed through all the stages 

 of its life and is now a perfect insect working with the rest." 



There is good reason for thinking that wasps have sentinels placed 

 at the entrances of their nests, which, if you can seize and destroy, 

 the remainder will not attack you. This has been confirmed by the 

 author. If a nest of wasps be approached without alarming the in- 

 habitants, and all communication be suddenly cut off between those 

 out of the nest, and those within it, no provocation will induce the 

 former to defend it for themselves, but if one escapes from within, 

 it comes with a very different temper and appears commissioned to 

 avenge public wrongs. In fact, very few incoming bees or wasps 

 will attack the intruder. Perhaps it is because the insect who is re- 

 turning to the nest sees what is going on about its home, while the 

 one coming from inside the nest is confronted suddenly by an unusual 

 form when it reaches its usual point of exit. It becomes alarmed 

 not only for itself but for the safety of its colony. What follows is 

 only too well known to the student of such insects. When the. workers 

 make their rush they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in the 

 execution of their orders. 



