168 



VESPID.E, OR WASP TRIBE. 



munity ; -not only defending their own nests against attacks, 

 but actually making war upon the nests of other species of Ants 

 (as will be hereafter detailed), and keeping their captives in 

 slavery. Ants are well known to be extremely fond of saccha- 

 rine matters ; and they seem greatly to relish the fluid which 

 exudes from the bodies of Aphides and Coccidae ( 719, 720). 

 Some species even collect Aphides into flocks, and keep them, 

 as it were, in pastures ; which they connect with their nests by 

 means of galleries, excavated along the stems and branches of 

 trees ; and they protect the eggs of these insects in their own 

 nests, especially in bad seasons. 



695. The family of VESPID.E, or Wasps, is distinguished from 

 the other Hymenoptera, by the wings being folded when at rest, 

 throughout their entire length. In general these insects are 

 social ; the communities, however, being small. In such cases, 

 there are neuters, or individuals of neither sex ; but these are 

 not destitute of wings. There are also some solitary "Wasps 

 (whose habits resemble those of the Fossores, whilst their 

 general structure is more conformable to that of the Social 

 Wasps), among which no neuters exist. The best-known of 

 the Social Wasps, such as the Common Wasp of this country, 

 construct their nests with bits of wood, bark, &c., which they 

 separate with their jaws and reduce 

 to a pulp ; and this pulp, when ex- 

 panded and dried, forms a paper-like 

 substance. With this are built layers 

 of hexagonal cells, one row being 

 joined to the under side of another. 

 The top row is attached in some 

 species, merely to the under side of 

 a branch, or to the roof of a slight 

 hollow, by which it may be in some 

 degree protected ; but in other 

 species, the whole comb is enveloped 

 in a covering, formed by several 

 layers of the same paper-like sub- 

 stance, with one or more apertures (Fig. 387 ; and ANIM. 



