THE STORY OF A WASPS NEST 



3^0 



which she was to fcnind. In short, we 

 mav say that with her die five, ten. or 

 fifteen thousand Wasps (the numl)er 

 depends largely on the species to 

 which she belongs) ; for had she lived, 

 and her colony tlourished, its population 

 might have reached such numbers. This, 

 too, is why fruit-growers frequently offer 

 rewards in early spring for each queen 

 Was]) — it is not the queen that the\' are 

 anxious to bu}-, but her possible progeny. 



last she arri\cs at a little, dark o])ening in 

 the lank about an inch in diameter. Tiiis 

 oi)ening was. formerly, the main entrance 

 to the place where a pair of field mice 

 reared their family and kept a treasury 

 of nuts and seeds of various kinds, but 

 now it is deserted. It seems, however, to 

 possess great attractions for this mother 

 of the coming Wasp community. She 

 carefully pushes out bits of the soil around 

 the entrance ; pulls here and there at a 



END VIEW OF THE NEST SHOWING THE PROMTS OF THE CO.MBS. 



Now it is a sunny morning in early May. 

 All has gone well with the dormant queen ; 

 she has safely sle})t a\\ay the winter 

 months, and now she is basking on the 

 warm wall between whose rough stones 

 she has hidden. Presently, she com- 

 mences by means of her legs to clean up 

 her wings, and smooth down the scattered 

 hairs that clothe her body ; then she 

 briskly brushes her face. Finally, she 

 draws each of her antennae, or feelers, 

 one at a time, between her folded legs, 

 so cleaning them from base to tip. Her 

 toilet is then complete, and for a moment 

 she rests. Then suddenly she rises on 

 her wings, and at that moment begins 

 the work of building a Wasj) city. 



She ])asses slowly along, stop])ing every 

 few minutes briefly to examine every ditch, 

 bank, stone wall, and hollow tree. At 



47 



drv bit of grass ; finally, she tlisappears 

 inside. Just what she does inside I am 

 unable to say because the bottom of the 

 hole is a foot deep, but I ha\-e no doubt, 

 bv the long time that she is occupied 

 there, that she is so well pleased with her 

 discovery of so excellent a site for opera- 

 tions that she forthwith proceeds to tidy 

 up the place a bit — at all events those 

 parts where immediate action is to take 

 place. 



.Almost any day afterwards, by waiting 

 at that hole for a longer or shorter period, 

 one could see the Wasp g<»ing in and out. 

 It is evident that slic s})ends a considerable 

 am<nmt of time outside her retreat as 

 well as inside. One day her visits are 

 jiarticularly frequent ; evidently she is 

 not going far ; indeed, by watching her 

 closeh' one could, on each of her journeys. 



