The Common Wasp 



To these raw materials, which are 

 troublesome to work, they prefer the old 

 cells, now fallen into disuse. In these the 

 felted fibres are ready prepared and have 

 only to be reduced to pulp again. With a 

 slight expenditure of saliva and a little grind- 

 ing in the mandibles, it yields a product of 

 the highest quality. The uninhabited cells, 

 therefore, are demolished by degrees, nibbled 

 and razed to their foundations. Out of the 

 ruins a sort of canopy is built. New cells 

 would be constructed in the same way if they 

 were needed. This confirms what the upper 

 stories with demolished cells made us fore- 

 see : the Wasps build new cells with old. 



The feeding of the grubs deserves exami- 

 nation even more than this roofing-work. 

 One would never weary of the spectacle of 

 these rough fighters converted into tender 

 nurses. The barracks are turned into a 

 creche. What care, what vigilance in the 

 rearing of the grubs ! Let us watch one of 

 the busy Wasps. Her crop swollen with 

 honey, she halts in front of a cell; almost 

 pensively she bends her head into the orifice; 

 she questions the recluse with the tip of her 

 antenna. The larva wakes and gapes at her, 

 like the fledgeling when the mother-bird re- 

 turns to the nest with food. 

 273 



