CHAP. X. SOCIETIES OF WASPS. 349 



humble insects before us. <c Go to the ant, thou 

 sluggard : consider her ways, and be wise." But their 

 condition is finite, and their faculties are accordingly 

 limited. Ours, on the contrary, whether in a state of 

 joy or of sorrow, will be for ever ; and therefore our 

 perceptions, as suited to such destinies, extend to the 

 comprehension of immaterial things. The harmonies 

 of nature are as perfect in the moral as in the physical 

 world : powers and faculties are never given where they 

 would be useless. Thus may we learn from the ant, 

 and, considering her ways, become wise. 



(351.) 3. We now turn to the family of WASPS, as 

 one of the societies of two families of insects which de- 

 mand our attention. Their history, indeed, is far less 

 interesting than that which we have just told ; nor can 

 it be compared with what has been so often related 

 on the family of bees ; yet still, although the race is 

 looked upon with an evil eye, we cannot but feel some 

 interest in its proceedings. The wasps, indeed, have 

 been aptly compared to a hoard of thieves and brigands, 

 who seem to live by universal plunder, devouring 

 almost everything which we enjoy as summer food, and 

 murdering the peaceful inhabitants of the hive. Yet, 

 with all this love of pillage, they are not altogether 

 disagreeable or unamiable ; for they are brisk and 

 lively, they do not usually attack unprovoked, and their 

 object in plundering us is not purely selfish, but prin- 

 cipally to provide for the support of the young brood 

 of their colonies. 



(352.) The different members of a society of wasps 

 consist of females, males, and workers. Among the 

 first, however, are found two distinct races ; the first 

 of these females are distinguished by a very superior 

 size, being near six times larger than the other ; these 

 are properly called the females, as they produce both, 

 male and female eggs : the other race is of the ordinary 

 size, and lay only male eggs. The large females are 

 produced later than the workers, and make their ap- 

 pearance in the following spring, so that, whoever 



