Wasps, Bees, and Ants 



491 



wasps that live a communal life, like that of the bumble- and honey-bees, 

 belong to the Vespoidea. The Sphecoidea may be distinguished from the 

 bees by their slender undilated tarsi, as contrasted with the swollen, pollen- 

 carrying tarsi of the bees. 



The eggs of wasps are usually deposited in a nest (burrow in soil, tunnel 

 in wood, receptacle built of clay, cells made of wasp-paper, etc.) in which 

 food, consisting of killed or paralyzed insects, is stored for the use of the 

 larva, or to which, after the larva's 

 birth, insect food is brought by the 

 mother or by sterile workers. The 

 parasitic wasps deposit their eggs on 

 the paralyzed body of some insect, 

 while the guest wasps lay their eggs 

 in the nests of other wasps or bees, 

 where the hatching larva can feed on 

 the food stored up by the host for its 

 own young. The larvae are white, 

 footless, soft-bodied grubs, which lie 

 in their cells feeding on the food stored FIG. 692. Nest-burrow of Oxybelus 

 up or brought them and pupating in guadri-notatus. (After Peckham; one- 

 half natural size.) 

 the same cell. The adults on issuing 



from the pupal cuticle gnaw their way out of the cell by means of their 

 strong jaws. With the social wasps all the eggs are laid by a queen or 

 fertile female in each community; with the solitary ones each female lays 

 eggs. 



The general external structural characters of wasps are familiar: the 

 elongate but compact and trim body with usually smooth, shining surface, 

 variously colored and patterned, steely blue, jet black, yellow, and rusty 

 reddish being the commoner colors and the pattern usually consisting of 

 narrow or broad transverse bands or rings. All have four clear membra- 

 nous wings (excepting the female Mutillidae), and all the females and 

 workers have strong stings. The mouth-parts consist of strong toothed 

 jaws, of jaw-like maxillae and lobed under lip, the last two usually closely 

 joined by membranes and specially fitted for lapping up sweetish liquids 

 or soft viscous or solid substances. The killing or paralyzing of the prey 

 (food for the young) is accomplished by the sting, while the digging and 

 mining and the transporting of materials for the nest are done by the strong 

 mandibles. The antennae are rather long and slender, the compound eyes 

 large and many-faceted. 



The digger-wasps differ from the social kinds, such as the yellow-jackets 

 and hornets, by not living together in communities, composed of a queen, 

 males, and sterile workers, but by living solitarily. There are no sterile 



