BOOK XI. XXIV. 72-xxv. 75 



are snialler than the others — kill one kind of spider 

 called phalangium and carry them to their nests and 

 then smear them over, and from these by incubating 

 produce their own species. Moreover they all feed 

 on flesh, contrary to bees which never touch a body. 

 But wasps hunt larger flies and after cutting off 

 their heads carry away the rest of the body. 



The forest variety of hornets live in hollow trees, Homets. 

 hibernating in winter like the rest of insects ; they 

 do not Hve beyond the age of two. Their sting is 

 rarely not foUowed by fever. Some authorities state 

 that twenty-seven " hornet-stings will kill a human 

 being. Another kind that seems less fierce has two 

 classes — workers, smaller in size, which die in winter, 

 and mothers, which last two years : these are not 

 fierce at all. They make nests in spring, usually with 

 four entrances, in whicli to breed the workers. When 

 these have been reared, they then make other larger 

 nests, in which they may now produce those who are 

 to be mothers. Then the workers begin to function, 

 and feed the mothers. The mothers are of a wider 

 shape, and it is doubtful whether they possess stings, 

 because they do not come out. These also have 

 their drones. Some people hokl the view that all 

 these insects lose their stings towards winter, 

 Neither the hoi-net nor the wasp kind have kings, 

 nor do they swarm, but their numbers are continually 

 renewed by offspring. 



XXV. Among these is a fourth genus, the silk- ThesUk- 

 moth, which occurs in Assyria; it is larger than the (^"otiodMo/ 

 kinds mentioned above. Silk-moths make their nests renoduction. 

 of mud hke a sort of salt ; they are attached to a 

 stone, and are so hard that they can scarcely be 

 pierced with javeUns. In these nests they make 



477 



