ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



a bird supplies her young. Another party is charged 

 with providing more substantial aliment for the 

 grubs of maturer growth. These wage war upon 

 bees, flies, and even the meat of a butcher's stall, 

 and joyfully return to the nest laden with the well- 

 filled bodies of the former, or pieces of the latter as 

 large as they can carry. This solid food they dis- 

 tribute in like manner to the larger grubs, which 

 may be seen eagerly protruding their heads out of 

 the cells to receive the welcome meal. As wasps lay 

 up no store of food, these exertions are the task of 

 every day during the summer, fresh broods of grubs 

 constantly succeeding to those which have become 

 pupae or perfect insects ; and in autumn, when the 

 colony is augmented to 20 or 30,000, and the grubs 

 in proportion, the scene of bustle which it presents 

 may be readily conceived. 



" Though such is the love of wasps for their 

 young, that if their nest be broken almost entirely 

 in pieces they will not abandon it, yet when the cold 

 weather approaches, a melancholy change ensues, 

 followed by a cruel catastrophe, which at first you 

 will be apt to regard as ill comporting with this 

 affectionate character. As soon as the first sharp 

 frost of October has been felt, the exterior of a 

 wasp's nest becomes a perfect scene of horror. The 

 old wasps drag out of the cells all the grubs and 

 unrelentingly destroy them, strewing their dead car- 

 cases around the door of their now desolate habita- 

 tion. ' What monsters of cruelty ! ' I hear you 

 exclaim, ' What detestable barbarians ! ' But be 

 not too hasty. When you have coolly considered the 



