HYMEXOPTERA. 459 



cell where they sometimes live on the bodies of Insects placed thereby the 

 mother at the time she deposited the egg-, and sometimes on the nectar of 

 flowers, juices of fruits and animal matters, elaborated in the stomach of 

 the mother, or that of the neuters, who feed them daily. 



Wasps properly so called, unite in numerous societies composed of males, 

 females and neuters. The two last detach particles of old wood or bark 

 with their mandibles, moisten and reduce them into a pultaceous mass re- 

 sembling 1 that of paper or pasteboard, and construct combs or nests with it 

 that are usually horizontal, and suspended above by one or more pedicles; 

 on the inferior side is a range of vertical cells in the form of hexagonal and 

 truncated pyramids. These cells are approximated exclusively to the use 

 of the larvae and nymphs, a cell to each. The number of combs that com- 

 pose this nest varies. It is sometimes exposed, and at others surrounded 

 by an envelope, pierced with a common and almost always central opening, 

 which sometimes corresponds to a series of holes which communicate with 

 the interior; the combs adhere to the parietes of the envelope, whether 

 they be in the open air or concealed in the earth or hollows of trees. The 

 figure of these structures varies according to the species. 



The females commence the business alone, and lay eggs that produce 

 neuters or labourers, which assist in enlarging the nest and taking care of 

 the succeeding young ones. The community is solely composed of these 

 two kinds of individuals until the beginning of autumn, at which period the 

 young males and females make their appearance. All the larvae and nymphs 

 which cannot complete their ultimate metamorphosis before the month of 

 November are put to death and dragged from their cells by the labourers, 

 which perish along with the males on the approach of winter. Some of 

 the females survive, and in the spring become the founders of anew colony. 

 Wasps feed on Insects, viands of various sorts, or fruit, and nourish their 

 larvae with the juices of these substances. The latter, which on account 

 of the inferior situation of the mouths of their cells are placed with their 

 head downwards, shut themselves up and spin a cocoon when about to be- 

 come nymphs. 



FAMILY IV. 



ANTHOPHILA, Lat.(l) 



The fourth and last family of the Aculeata, in the faculty of col- 

 lecting the pollen of flowers, usually possessed by the two posterior 

 legs, presents a peculiar character which distinguishes it from all 

 other families of Insects. The first joint of the tarsi of those legs 



(1) Lovers of flowers. 



