SOCIAL ECONOMY. 237 
cession of events is the measure of time, but this 
succession is accelerated or retarded by the sun, the 
centre of their existence, as it might seem, the 
arbiter of their economy. Thus, a queen-bee may 
either lay eggs within forty-six hours of her impreg- 
nation, or, should this not occur till late in the year, 
she may not begin laying till the next spring. 
Female wasps, if hatched early in the year, may lay 
the same autumn,* or, on the other hand, if the 
season be unfavourable, fertile females may pass over 
a whole year without building or laying eggs, re- 
‘serving themselves for a more favourable oppor- 
tunity.{ The possibility of such retardation of the 
physiological processes, or, under opposite con- 
ditions, of their acceleration, to an extent quite 
unheard of in the higher animals, must be constantly 
kept in view in all observations on the natural history 
of insects. 
More particularly, adult wasps, although very 
sensitive of continued wet and cold, and requiring, 
among the first necessaries of their existence, dryness, 
and warmth, and temporary protection from direct 
sunlight, are not injured by mere passing changes of 
weather. The undeveloped brood,{ however, is very 
* “Smith. ‘Zoologist,’ Vol. X. p. 3699. V. norwegica. 
+ ‘Entomologists’ Annual, 1862,’ Smith ‘Notes on Hymenoptera,’ 
. 73. 
; ‘Kirby and Spence Entomology,’ p. 365, note. ‘Schirach asserts 
that in cold weather the disclosure of the imago [of bees] takes place 
two days later than in warm; and Riem, that in a bad season the 
eggs will remain in the cells many months without hatching. (Schirach, 
pp. 79, 241.) ” 
t Dr. L. Moller has made the relation of insects to soil and climate 
and other physical conditions the subject of special investigation. 
But his remarks are chiefly applicable to his own neighbourhood, 
