THE COMMON WASP. 521 



heavier than these, and the males are of an intermediate size between 

 the two. In the hive of the Honey-bee the number of females is ex- 

 tremely small; but in a Wasp's nest they often amount to more than 

 three hundred. 



The eggs are white, transparent, and of an oblong shape ; but they 

 differ in size, according to the kind of Wasps that are to proceed front 

 them. At the end of eight days after they are deposited in the cells, 

 the grubs are hatched. These demand the principal care of such 

 Wasps as continue always in the nest. They are fed in the same 

 manner as birds, by receiving, from time to time, a mouthful of food 

 from the insects which have the care of them. It is astonishing to see 

 with what industry and rapidity a female runs along the cells of a 

 comb, and distributes to each worm a portion of nutriment. In pro- 

 portion to the ages and condition of the worms, they are fed with 

 liquid substance, or with solid food. 



When a worm is so large as to occupy its whole cell, it is ready to 

 be metamorphosed into a chrysalis. It then refuses all nourishment, 

 and ceases to have any connexion with the Wasps in the nest. It 

 closes the mouth of its cell with a line silken cover. This operation 

 is completed in three or four hours, and the animal remains a chrysalis 

 nine or ten days. After this it destroys, with its teeth, the external 

 cover of the cell, and issues forth a winged insect, which is either male, 

 female, or neuter, according to the nature of the egg from which it was 

 hatched. In a short time the Wasps newly transformed receive the 

 food that is brought to them by the foragers from the fields. What is 

 still more wonderful is, that in the course of even the first day after 

 their transformation, the young Wasps have been observed to go into 

 the fields, bring in provisions, and distribute them to the worms in the 

 cells. A cell is no sooner abandoned by a young Wasp, than it is 

 cleaned, trimmed, repaired by the old ones, and rendered in every 

 respect proper for the reception of another egg. 



Cells are constructed of different dimensions for the neuters, males, 

 and females ; and it is very remarkable, that those of the neuters are 

 never intermixed with the cells destined for others. 



About the beginning of October, every nest presents a strange scene 

 of cruelty. At this season, the Wasps not only cease to bring nour- 

 ishment to their young-ones, but they drag the grubs from their cells, 

 and carry them out of the nest, where they are either killed by the 

 Wasps, or perish from exposure to the weather and deprivation of 

 food. This procedure would at first seem a strange violation of 

 parental affection ; but the intentions of Providence, though they often 

 elude our researches, are never wrong. What appears to us cruel and 

 unnatural, in this instinctive devastation committed annually by the 

 Wasps, is perhaps an act of the greatest mercy that could have taken 

 place. Wasps are not, like the Honey-bees, endowed with the instinct 

 of laying up a store of provisions for winter If not prematurely 

 destroyed by their parents, the young-ones must necessarily die a crue* 

 and lingering death, occasioned by hunger. Hence this seemingly 

 harsh conduct in the economy of Wasps, instead of affording an 



