368 



THE NATURE BOOK 



SIDK VIEW OF NEST. 



much jealous care ; but no longer \vere 

 they feeding them. They were now 

 ruthlessly dragging them from their 

 cradles, one by one, and carrying them 

 outside the nest, where they left them to 

 perish. Apparently they recognised the 

 futility of attempting to rear them, and, 

 rather than let their charges slowly die 

 of starvation, they subjected them to 

 exposure, so that their end should come 

 quickly. After this work is performed, 

 those workers who have carried out this 

 last function, take no further interest in 

 the fallen city, but wander aimlessly about 

 until wet and cold brings death to them. 



So the vast city be- 

 comes a ruin, and its 

 five thousand or more 

 scattered inhabitants 

 terminate their exist- 

 ence, all excepting, per- 

 haps, three or four of 

 the young queens ; for 

 most of them also 

 eventually succumb to 

 the \\'asp's arch enemy, 

 frost. The old queen, 

 although she leaves the 

 nest with the young 

 queens, naturally stands 

 less chance of surviv- 

 ing ; especially is this 

 so if the city that she 

 founded has been a 

 large one, and her re- 

 sources have been largely 



drawn upon. Only occa- 

 sionally when a nest is 

 broken up in mid-season 

 by a storm or other un- 

 toward agency, does the 

 (jueen survive to give 

 origin to another nest, 

 [or then her productive 

 ]K)wers ha\'e not become 

 exhausted. 



Our purpose now must 

 l)e to see what becomes 

 of the three or four sur- 

 \'iving fertilised queens, 

 for, as I have previously 

 stated, out of that vast 

 cityful only these remain 

 to carry on their species 

 to succeeding genera- 

 tions. 

 After the mating the male Wasps soon 

 perish, and the queens of the future 

 generations seek shelter in the crevices 

 of walls, or amongst rubbish heaps ; 

 indeed, an}' dry situation, where the\' are 

 well protected from the cold winds and 

 frost, provides suitable quarters in which 

 to hibernate. Should the young queen, 

 however, once become exposed during the 

 cold period, she rarely has the strength to 

 find a new hiding place, but lies inactive 

 until cold, or perhaps a hungry bird, 

 abruptly terminates her career. And we 

 should remember that, with her death, 

 has also died the hopes of the colony 



SIDE VIEW OF NEST WITH THE PAPER COVER REMOVED, 

 SHOWING THE COMBS AND THEIR CELLS. 



