THE WASP. 89 



they have assumed the perfect form, the Wasps which have 

 been bred in these cells must be very much smaller than their 

 parent. They are the worker wasps, or neuters, as they are 

 sometimes called, whose entire life is devoted to labour, and 

 who, in fact, are undeveloped females. 



Now, however, a change takes place. The cells of which 

 the next few terraces are composed are of very much larger 

 dimensions than the others, and are intended for the purpose 

 of hatching the grubs which will afterwards become perfect 

 male and female wasps. It will be seen, therefore, that the 

 workers are hatched in tlie earlier part of the year, and that 

 the male and female do not make their appearance until the 

 end of the season. The cell-terraces increase gradually in 

 diameter until the fourth or fifth, when they usually decrease 

 slightly, and in exact accordance with their enlargement the 

 covering is extended over them. 



At the end of the season, after successive bands of worker- 

 wasps have passed through the cells, and the single generation 

 of the males and females has come to maturity, the nest shows 

 symptoms of dissolution. If there are any grubs still left in the 

 comb, the workers at once change their behaviour. Instead of 

 feeding and tending them with jealous care, instead of defend- 

 ing them at the risk of their own lives, they pull these helpless 

 white things out of their cradles, carry them far out of the nest, 

 and abandon them. It seems a cruelty, and so it is ; but it is 

 a cruel mercy, substituting a quick death by exposure, or, per- 

 chance, being eaten by birds, for a slow and lingering death by 

 starvation within the nest. For the instinct of the workers tells 

 them that their labour is over, and their course is run, and that 

 in a short time they will all die of old age, so that the helpless 

 nurslings in the cells would find no food, and must perish by 

 starvation. 



At last, the entire population deserts the nest, the workers 

 die, and so do all the males, none of thein surviving their 

 brief wedlock for more than a few hours ; and the majority of 

 the females die also, some from exposure to cold, and others by a 



