144 WASPS [CH. V 



and its colours dull, the wings too are not fully expanded 

 nor firm. For some time the newly emerged wasp rests 

 upon the comb, hanging back downwards, while the wings 

 attain their final form and consistency and the body its 

 strongly contrasted colouring. Not infrequently rest is 

 taken by entering a cell, her own or some other, head first. 

 During this period there are ejected from the body the 

 nitrogenous waste-products that have accumulated within 

 the hinder part of the intestine during the period of 

 quiescence. These excreta take the form of drops of 

 milky fluid and small white granules largely composed 

 of urates. A similar discharge of waste-products is gene- 

 rally very noticeable in freshly emerged Lepidoptera: in 

 these the colour of the liquid is pink or red and has given 

 rise at times to assertions of " showers of blood " among 

 country folk. 



The fore-wings of the young wasp are not, at first, 

 folded longitudinally, but overlap the dorsal surface of 

 the abdomen, and for a slight distance one another 

 also. They do not become folded until they have been 

 extended and become hooked on to the hind-wing : then, 

 on returning to the position of repose, this attachment 

 is maintained and the hind part of the fore-wing folds 

 under the front part mechanically. Janet has shown 

 that in the absence of a hind-wing the fore-wing of that 

 side does not, and indeed cannot, become folded. He 

 also suggests that by this folding the more fragile parts 

 of the wings are preserved from the injury they might 

 otherwise receive by friction between the abdomen and 

 the fabric of the nest. 



