THE STORY OF A WASPS NEST 



5^V 



responsible for the catastrophe. Tlie blow- 

 commenced to fall many days l)ef()re, 

 when one niijht some of the worker Wasps 

 alarmed their relati\es by crawling into 

 their quarters much earlier than usual, 

 numbed and cold. When inside the nest 

 they quickly revived, but it was a bad 

 omen ! \\' hether the fact of this misfortune 

 to some of the workers was communicated 

 to the Wasp queen I am quite vmable 

 to say, but certainly her beha\'iour 

 became quite 

 different after 

 that shock. 



Previously, 

 she had always 

 deposited eggs 

 which ultimate- 

 ly produced 

 workers, o r 

 neuters, which 

 are really im- 

 perfect females ; 

 the queen her- 

 self is the only 

 perfect female 

 in her commun- 

 i t y. C o n s e- 

 q u e n 1 1 3% the 

 business of egg- 

 depositing rests 

 entirely w i t h 

 her ; and it was 

 in this direction 

 that her behav- 

 i o u r changed. 

 She commenced 



to lay eggs which hatched out grubs that 

 e\'entually developed into perfect females 

 like herself. Whether the eggs were 

 actually different, is a matter that I 

 cannot here debate ; it may be that 

 the after feeding of the young grub 

 brought about the change. 



Later on, it frequently occurred that 

 some of the workers became numbed as 

 night drew on, and in the early morning 

 they got later and later in leaving the 

 nest. At this time, too, the queen Wasj) 

 again changed her ways. From her eggs 

 now appeared a brood of males. It 

 was several days after this brood of males, 

 or drones, had been hatched when that 

 " killing frost " overtook the Wasj) city, 

 and brought such dire distress to its 

 inhabitants. 



Tlie l)low had fallen, and for the moment 

 the once bus\' city had come to a stand- 

 still. Later in the day, when the warm 

 sun made its declining heat felt, the Wasps 

 within the nest began, one after another, 

 to arouse themselves ; and it quickly 

 became evident that something unusual 

 was taking j)lace. 



The last broods of males and j)erfect 

 females, or young queens, were making 

 their way out of the nest. Until now, the 



J 



NEST OF THE COMMON WASP /A' .S/ / . . 

 BEEN REMOVED. 



w I ihN 1 I i t'. bOi u 1 1 



latter had li\cd ami(al)ly with their 

 mother and the workers within, and they 

 appeared to do no work. At all events, 

 they did not Hyinand out of the nest to- 

 gather materials either for food or building 

 purposes. Likewise with the fat-bodied 

 drones. They were e\cn less productive 

 members of the comnumity, for their 

 only function was that of becoming 

 fathers to the generation of the future, 

 and by early winter e\'ery one of them 

 will have jierished from cold. On the 

 young queens, however, depends the 

 future of the race. 



Now both the drones and the young 

 queens were lea\ing their home. The 

 remaining workers ga\e no heed to them. 

 Instead they were busy with the white 

 grubs they iiatl feci ami teniletl with so 



