Si6 HISTOilY OF 



flying to their nests with their reeking prey. They make war 

 also on every other fly, and the spider himself dreads their ap- 

 proaches. 



Every community among bees is composed of females, or 

 queens, drones or males, and neutral or working bees. Wasps 

 nave 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 the most of the number, and diligently employed 

 either in providing provisions for their nest, if already made ; 

 or in making one, if the former habitation be too small to re- 

 ceive the increasing community. The nest is one of the most 

 curious objects in natural history, and contrived almost as artifi- 

 cially 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 some- 

 times build upon the plain, where they are sure of the dryness 

 of their situation ; but most commonly 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 go to work with wonder- 

 ful assiduity. Their first labour is to enlarge and widen the 

 hole, taking away the earth, and carrying it off" to some distance. 

 They are perfectly formed for labour, being furnished with a 

 trunk above their mouths, two saws on each side, which play 

 to the right and left against each other, and six strong muscular 

 legs to support them. They cut the earth into small parcels 

 with their saws, and carry it out with their legs or paws. This 

 is the work of some days ; and at length the outline of their 

 habitation is formed, making a ca\aty of about a foot and a half 

 every way. While some are working in this manner, others 

 are roving the fields to seek out materials for their building. To 

 prevent the earth from falling down and crushing their rising 

 city into ruin, they make a sort of roof with their gluey substance, 

 to which they begin to fix the rudiments of their building, 

 working from the top downwards, as if they were hanging a 

 bell; which, however, at length they close up at the bottom. 

 The materials with which they build their nests are bits of wood 



