Life Insurance for Wasps 



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killed, but paralyzed, and so are packed away 

 alive and remain fresh during the many days 

 when some of them are awaiting the use of the 

 grub. 



One of the most conspicuous examples of this 

 is the European mud-dauber, and that insect 

 always attaches its egg to the first spider the 

 one stowed away in the furthest end of the cell, 

 so that when the grub begins to eat it devours 

 first the oldest provisions, while those kept to 

 the last are the freshest. Our own mud-wasp 

 does not seem to use this paralyzing method. 



Three-fourths of its spiders are killed out- 

 right and dry up in the store-house; nor does 

 our wasp lay its egg until the last spider is put 

 in, by which plan it escapes a large risk from 

 destructive parasites. 



We do possess certain wasps, however, which 

 paralyze their prey rather than kill it as often 

 as they can. One of these is the largest of our 

 wasps a great golden fellow, half as big as 

 a humming-bird, which digs a tunnel in the 

 ground, which I have sometimes found to be 

 three feet long, and deposits in a chamber at 

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