ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 



131 



by the parent if not protected by the workers. If the 

 young queen survive, the old queen departs with many of 

 her subjects, and collects them into a dense swarm attached 

 to a limb of a tree, where they remain until scouts return to 

 conduct them to their new home. 



127. The wasps. The digger-wasps are frequently to be 

 seen gnawing tunnels in the wood or earth, at the inner end 



FIG. 81. Nest of Vespa, a social wasp. Photograph by A. L. MBLANDEB and 

 C. T. BRUES. 



of which an egg is laid. In some species the developing 

 young is nourished by food carried in to it day by day. In 

 other cases the parent may never see her child, dying or 

 abandoning it before its birth ; but before departing she is 

 careful to place within reach a sufficient supply of spiders, 

 caterpillars, beetles, or locusts that shall nourish the little 

 one until it becomes a motionless pupa. This stage is soon 

 over, and the adult wasp now digs its way to the surface. 



Passing by the familiar mud-wasps or mud-daubers, 

 whose nests are common objects under stones or against 



