NATURAL HISTORY OF WASPS. 
CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. LITERATURE OF THE SUBJECT. METHOD OF 
TAKING AND PRESERVING WASPS AND THEIR NESTS. USE OF WASPS: 
AND INSECTS GENERALLY. 
Ir is only those who have learned to love wasps as 
some naturalists love bees who will be at the pains 
to understand them; who will watch by a nest and 
‘learn from the movements of the insects what is 
going on inside, or will share their study window 
with a colony of wasps in active work. As far as 
concerns the profit which is urged as a reasonable 
pretext for loving bees, I suspect that, if the truth 
were known, most amateur bee-keepers would agree 
_in the conclusion that the gains accruing from wax 
or honey are purely imaginary, and that bee-keep- 
ing and wasp-keeping are about on a par in that 
respect. As a scientific pursuit the study of wasps 
is not surpassed in interest by that of bees; both 
alike have their peculiar difficulties and facilities, 
and in both alike nature only reveals her secrets 
to the close and patient observer. 
B 
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