136 <I(4fMBLES OF A DOIMINIS 



most of them it is the drowsiness forerunning death, not 

 sleep. The frosty nights of October do us great service 

 in destroying these troublesome insects, just as their 

 colonies have reached their most nourishing condition. 



The wasp, it may be observed is, if she is let alone, on 

 the whole a well-behaved, as she is certainly always 

 an industrious, member of society. She rarely stings 

 unprovoked, being thus unlike the bee, who takes 

 such marked and unaccountable dislikes to unoffending 

 lingerers near the hive. Is it another indication of the 

 high plane of civilisation reached by bees and wasps 

 that the females only have weapons of defence? The 

 unprotected males are entirely unarmed. 



The population of a single wasps' nest may amount by 

 the end of the season to as many as thirty thousand, 

 without counting the grubs not then matured. But of 

 all the thousands who during the summer have been 

 born and bred within the bounds of the republic, not a 

 handful will survive the winter. A few females will 

 remain torpid in the nest, or hide in hollow trees or 

 among heaps of stones, until warm days of spring revive 

 them to start single-handed the founding of a new 

 settlement. 



As for the rest, the undeveloped grubs, for whom no 

 food is ever stored, are at the approach of winter dragged 

 from their cells and slaughtered; and the full-grown 

 wasps, whose stings have saved the rising generation 

 from the pangs of hunger, perish at the touch of 

 frost. 



The nest is a very triumph of engineering skill. A 



