Sa mSTOXlY OF 



it emits upon the place, and which renders it more easily sepa- 

 rable from the rest, and the whole becoming a kind of soft 

 paste, is removed to the mouth of the habitation. The animal's 

 provision of liquor in these operations is, however, soon ex- 

 hausted ; and it is then seen taking up water either from some 

 ueigdbouring flower or stream, in order to supply the defi- 

 ciency. 



At length, after much toil, a hole some inches deep is formed, 

 at the bottom of which is a large cavity ; and to this no other 

 hostile insect would venture to find its vray, from the length 

 and the narrowness of the defile through which it would be ob- 

 liged to pass. In this the solitary wasp lays its egg, which is 

 destined to continue the species ; there the nascent animal is to 

 continue for about nine months, unattended and immured, and 

 at first appearance the most helpless insect of the creation. 

 But when we come to examine, new wonders offer; no other 

 insect can boast so copiously luxurious a provision, or such con- 

 firmed security. 



As soon as the mother wasp has deposited her egg at the bot- 

 tom of the hole, her next care is to furnish it with a supply of 

 provisions, which may be offered to the young insect as soon as' 

 it leaves the egg. To this end she procures a number of little 

 green worms, generally from eight to tvi'elve, and these are to 

 serve as food for the young one the instant it awakens into life. 

 When this supply is regularly arranged and laid in, the old one 

 then, with as much assiduity as it before worked out its hole, 

 now closes the mouth of the passage ; and thus leaving its 

 young one immured in perfect security, and in a copious supply 

 of animal food, she dies, satisfied with having provided for a 

 future progeny. 



When the young one leaves the egg, it is scarcely visible, and 

 is seen immured among a luimher of insects, infinitely larger 

 than itself, ranged in proper order around it, which, however, 

 give it no manner of apprehension. Whether the parent, when 

 she laid in the insect provision, contrived to disable the worms 

 from resistance, or whether they were at first incapable of any, 

 is not known. Certain it is, that the young glutton feasts upon 

 the living spoil without any control ; his game lies at his hand, 

 and he devours one after the other as the calls of appetite in- 

 cite him. The life of the young animal is therefore spent in 



