USEFUL HYMENOl'TERA. 



189 



and I? , workers which are unfertile females. The eggs are 

 not laid by the female immediately after fertilisation ; she 

 hibernates and commences the construction of. a nest for a 

 new colony about April. From the spring until late in the 

 summer she lays her eggs in the regularly hexagonal, pris- 

 matic, horizontal cells of the nest. She is gradually joined 



Fhr. 



m 



ri.— Honiet-iujury to asli. 

 (\(((i(ial size.) 



Fig. 72. — Horuet-iujiiry to alder. 

 {Xatural size.) 



in her labours by lier progeny, of which first ip , then ? , and 

 lastly the stingless 3 are produced. The latter die soon after 

 pairing. If by any accident the mother wasp should die 

 before any perfect females are produced, the whole colony 

 would become extinct. The duties of the '? are to continue 

 building the nest, to feed the helpless larvae, and to defend the 

 colony against enemies. The nests are covered with a paper- 



