94 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ca.re of the Young. 



The common liive-bec and the wasp in their 

 attention to their young exliibit the same 



f general features. Both build for tlieir reception 

 icxagonal cells, differing in size according to 

 the future sex of the included grubs, which as 

 Eoon as hatched they both feed and assiduously 

 tend until their transformation into pupae. 

 There are peculiarities, however, in their 

 modes of procedure, which require a distinct 

 notice. 



The economy of a nest of wasps differs from 

 the bees, in that the eggs are laid not by a single 

 mother or queen, but by several; and that these 

 mothers take the same care as the woi'kers in 

 feeding the young grubs ; indeed, those first 

 hatched are fed entirely by the female which 

 produced them, the solitary founder of the 

 colony. The sole survivor probably of a last 

 year's swarm of many thousands — this female, 

 as soon as revived by the warmth of spring, 

 proceeds to construct a few cells, and deposits 

 in them the eggs of working Avasps. The eggs 

 are covered with a gluten, which fixes them" so 

 strongly against the sides of the cells that it is 

 not easy to separate them vmbroken. These 

 eggs seem to require care from the time they 

 are laid, for the wasps many times in a day put 

 their heads into the cells which contain them. 

 When they are hatched, it is amusing to 

 witness the activity with which the female 

 runs from cell to cell, putting her head into 

 those in which the grubs are very young, while 

 those that ai'e more advanced in age thrust their 

 heads out of their cells, and by little movements 

 seem to be asking for their food. As soon as 

 they receive their portion they draw them back 

 and remain ciuiet. These she feeds until they 

 become pupae ; and witliin twelve hours after 

 being excluded in their perfect state, they 

 eagerly set to work in constructing fresh cells, 

 and in lightening the burden of their parent by 

 assisting her in feeding the grubs of other 

 workers and females which are by this time 

 born. In a few weeks the society will have 

 received an accession of several hundred 

 Avorkers and many females, which, without 

 distinction, apply themselves to provide food 

 for the growing grubs, now become exceedingly 

 numerous. With this object in view, as they 

 collect little or no honey from flowers, they are 

 constantly engaged in predatory expeditions. 

 One party will attack a hive of bees, a grocer's 

 sugar hogshead, or other saccharine repository; 

 or, if these fail, the juice of a ripe peach or 

 pear. You will be less indignant than formerly 

 at these audacious robbers now you know that 

 self is little considered in their attacks, and 

 that your ravaged fruit has supplied an ex- 

 quisite banquet to the most tender grubs of the 

 nest, into whose extended mouths the successful 

 marauders, running Avitli astonishing agility 

 from one cell to another, disgorge successively 

 a small portion of their iDooty in the same way 

 that a bird supplies her young. Another party 

 is charged with providing more substantial 

 aliment for the grubs of maturer growth. These 

 wage war upon bees, flies, and even the meat of 

 a butcher's stall, and joyfully return to the nest 



laden with the well -filled bodies of the former, 

 or pieces of the latter, as large as they can carry. 

 This solid food they distribute in like manner 

 to the larger grubs, which may be seen eagerly 

 protruding their heads out of the cells to receive 

 the welcome meal. As wasps lay up no store 

 of food, these exertions are the task of every 

 day during the summer, fresh broods of grubs 

 constantly succeeding to those which have 

 become pupae or perfect insects; and in autumn, 

 when the colony is augmented to 20,000 or 

 30,000, and the grubs in proportion, the scene 

 of bustle which it presents may be readily con- 

 ceived. 



Though such is the love of wasps for their 

 young, that if their nest be broken almost en- 

 tirely in pieces, they will not abandon it, yet 

 when the cold weather approaches, a melan- 

 choly change ensues, followed by a cruel 

 catastrophe, which at first you will be apt to 

 regard as ill comporting with this affectionate 

 character. As soon as the first sharp frost of 

 October has been felt, the exterior of a wasp's 

 nest becomes a perfect scene of horror. The 

 old wasps drag out of the cells all the grubs, and 

 unrelentingly destroy them, strewing their dead 

 carcasses around the door of their now desolate 

 habitation. "What monsters of cruelty!" I 

 hear you exclaim, ' 'what detestable barbarians!" 

 But be not too hasty. When you have coolly 

 considered the circumstances of the case, you 

 will view this seemingly cruel sacrifice in a 

 different light. The old wasps have no stock 

 of provisions; the benumbing hand of Winter 

 is about to incapacitate them from exertion, 

 while the season itself affords no supply. What 

 resource then is left ? Their young must linger 

 on a short period, suffering all the agonies of 

 hunger, and at length expire. They have it in 

 their power at least to shorten the term of this 

 misery — to cut off its bitterest moments. A 

 sudden death by their own hands is compara- 

 tively a merciful stroke. This is the only alter- 

 native ; and thus, in fact, this apparent ferocity 

 is the last effort of tender affection, active even 

 to the end of life. I do not mean to say that 

 this train of reasoning actually passes through 

 the mind of the wasps. It is more correct to 

 regard it as having actuated the benevolent 

 author of the instinct so singularly, and without 

 doubt so wisely, excited. Were a nest of 

 wasps to survive the wintcr,they would increase 

 so rapidly that not only would all the bees, 

 flies, and other animals on which they prey be 

 extirpated, but man himself find them a grievous 

 pest. It is necessary, therefore, that the great 

 mass should annually perish; but that they may 

 suffer as little as possible, the Creator, mindful 

 of the happiness of the smallest of his creatures, 

 has endowed a part of the society, at the destined 

 time, with the wonderful instinct which, pre- 

 viously to their own death, makes them the 

 executioners of the rest. 



Wasps in the construction of their nests have 

 solely in view the accomodation of their young 

 ones, and to these their cells are exclusively 

 devoted. Bees, on the contrary, (I am speaking 

 of the common hive-bee,) appropriate a con- 

 siderable number of their cells to the reception 

 of honey intended for the use of the society. 



