CHAP. X. HABITS OF WASPS. 351 



survive remain torpid, in holes and recesses, until spring, 



when they again emerge, and commence preparations 

 for founding a new colony. 



(353.) The male wasps, although much smaller 

 than the females, are yet double the size of the ordi- 

 nary workers ; they are known at once by their long 

 filiform antennae, and by having an additional segment 

 to their body. They do not assist in building the nest 

 or in taking charge of their young, yet they perform a 

 very necessary though humble post in the community, 

 they are, in short, the general scavengers, sweeping the 

 streets and passages,, and removing every obstruction ; 

 these duties involve the removal of the dead, in which 

 office they show a singular instinct : sometimes the 

 body to be removed is too bulky for one of them to 

 carry; on these occasions he calls another to assist him, 

 and the work is mutually performed by both. If no 

 assistance, however, is at hand, our wasp proceeds to 

 lighten his load, and very adroitly cuts off the head of 

 the dead body, and after throwing it out of the nest, 

 returns and does the same with the carcase ; the la- 

 bourers appreciate the usefulness of the males j they 

 are not, therefore, like the bee drones, devoted to a 

 general massacre when the impregnation of the females 



the great end of their creation has taken place. 

 All continue to live in peace and harmony, until the 

 end of their days. which is brought about by the chilly 

 blasts of winter. 



(354.) The labouring wasps, as before observed, 

 compose the great body of the inhabitants of a vespiary. 

 It is these who vex and annoy us in summer, by de- 

 vouring our fruits, and flying in at our windows. We 

 regard them with feelings of decided ill will ; but their 

 history will, perhaps, incline us to view them with for- 

 bearance, if not with kindness. As it is their duty to 

 collect provisions for the whole community, they are 

 incessantly and pertinaciously intent upon this object, 



for they know that not only the lives of their 

 fellow labourers working in the nest, but also the exist- 



