28(5 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Scene of cruelty in winter. 



nate massacre. The eggs and the young worms, 

 which a little before they protected w.ith such 

 assiduity, are torn from their cells with undistin- 

 guishing fury. Hopes of the state, solicitude 

 for posterity, love for their native place no longer 

 exist, and the whole common-wealth is shaken 

 to its foundation. Rains and frosts succeed ; the 

 wasps are seized with disease and languor, and 

 during the winter almost the whole of them die; 

 the working wasps first, the males soon follow- 

 ing, and many of the females suffering in the ge- 

 neral calamity. In every nest, however, one or 

 two females survive the severity of the winter, 

 and the ensuing spring become the founders of 

 new empires. Unaided by any of her kind, the 

 female, at the beginning of every season, lays 

 the foundation of a new edifice; constructing 

 the first cells, where she deposits her fiist eggs, 

 which in time become mule wasps, and by 

 these she is assisted in completing the rest of the 

 work. 



The females are stronger, and support the 

 yigors of winter better than either the males or 

 neuters. The males, which are not so indolent 

 as those of the honey bee, are never brought 

 forth till towards the end of August; and their 

 sole occupation seems to be that of keeping the 

 nest clean: they carry out every kind of filth, 

 and the bodies of such of their companions as 

 happen to die. In performing this operation, 



