SOCIAL ECONOMY. 243 
a coming change, but does not bring any present 
alteration in the domestic arrangements of the nest. 
For the young females in a wasps’ nest, unlike those 
in a beehive, live very amicably with their mothers 
and the rest of the swarm. Which is quite as well, 
as they are not hatched by one or two, but by 
dozens, at a time. They do not appear to work, as 
they are not seen flying in and out of the nest, or 
gathermg food or materials for buildmg. They 
rather cling to the inside of the nest, not leaving it, 
even when it has been taken, till long after most of © 
the- workers have been frightened or shaken out. 
They are very sociable among themselves, being found 
hybernating in large parties, beneath the bark of a 
tree, or in a holein a bank. So, too, with the drones. 
They are so many added to the number of unpro- 
ductive mouths, for they do nothing, as far as I have 
seen, for the public service. Though, as their salivary 
glands are fully developed, there is no apparent in- 
capacity for making paper. But, if they do nothing, 
they cost little or nothing. For their bodies are 
loaded with fat; and as they must be intended to 
consume this during their short lives, the quantity 
of food they require besides their own stores must 
be very small indeed. They are tolerated and fed 
ungrudgingly; and when they leave the nest they 
go out of their own accord, and are not hunted out, 
like their bee cousins. Thus much, however, must 
be said in detraction of the wasp’s superior courtesy 
and hospitality, that the drones have no mducement 
to remain in the empty nest to starve, and that they 
take their departure with all the rest of the swarm. 
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