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CHAPTER IX. 
EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRIES. 
RESULTS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NEST. OF THE REMOVAL OF THE 
QUEEN, EXPLAINED BY PARTHENOGENESIS, 
THERE remains yet another phase of the History 
of Wasps, as interesting in a physiological point of 
view as any which may have preceded it, though 
commencing at a period when many might suppose 
that the misfortunes of the swarm which had been 
so unlucky as to become the subject of scientific 
experiments had been finally consummated by the 
capture of their nest and the death of the queen. 
Every little boy however knows that the mere de- 
struction of the nest is not always followed by the 
extermination of the swarm. Indeed at first it might 
often seem that nothing is gained to the neighbours 
by the operation; for the nest is soon replaced, and 
the wasps are crosser than before. Even the addi- 
tional calamity of the loss of the queen may at first 
produce no sensible difference. The swarm does not 
go wandering in search of their lost mistress, they 
do not hang.mournfully on the hedge. On the 
contrary, they eat, and work, and sting, to all ap- 
pearance, the same as ever; just as if nothing what- 
ever had happened. But, if we watch a little more 
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