LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 288 



under the constant care of the mother or nurse. It is supposed 

 that different care or different feeding develops the male, female, 

 soldier or worker from the same group of eggs, but this matter 

 seems to lack confirmation. Wonderful stories are told of the in- 

 telligence of ants. It is claimed that they carry on war; that 

 colonies are sometimes exterminated, sometimes enslaved, and 

 that some ants keep domestic animals, and that they sometimes 

 undertake migrations in great numbers. 



The Vespidae or Wasps. The life history of a wasp is about as 

 follows : Males and females reach maturity in late summer, and 

 copulate in the air; soon afterward the males die, but many of 

 the females survive the winter. In the spring the wasp begins a 

 nest, making it of gnawed wood which resembles paper. During 

 the spring and summer she begets workers, which help to in- 

 crease the size of her nest, and to rear the perfect insects later in 

 the season. 



The Apidse or Bees. The nest of the bumble bee is founded by 

 a single female which has survived the winter as in the case of 

 the wasp. Some bees excavate cavities in wood for the deposi- 

 tion of their eggs. The common honey-bee is, next to the ants, 

 the most interesting insect. Among them we have the commu- 

 nity of the queen, males and workers, the queen living for four or 

 five years no other perfect insect having as long tenure of life. 

 The wasp builds a cell of paper for its young, the bee builds one 

 of wax. The cells are of hexagonal form, and of a larger and 

 smaller size. In the smaller cells, provisions are stored, and in 

 them the worker brood is placed, while the larger ones are used 

 for the male brood and the reception of honey. On the edge of 

 the comb a few large irregular queen cells are formed. In early 

 spring the queen deposits eggs in the workers' cells, and later in 

 the drone cells, and later still she deposits an egg in each of sev- 

 eral queen cells. The larva in these cells receive richer food, and 

 reach maturity in about sixteen days, while the male requires 

 twenty-four days, and the worker twenty to reach maturity. 

 Just before the oldest of the young queens reaches maturity, the 

 queen mother leaves the hive or nest with a portion of the work- 



