152 F'lashlights on Nature 



winters, on the contrary, a fair number doze it 

 through, to become the foundresses of correspond- 

 ingly numerous colonies. 



And who are these survivors ? Not the lordly 

 and idle drones ; not even the industrious neuters 

 or workers ; but the perfect females or queens, 

 the teeming mothers to be of the coming com- 

 munities. Look at the royal lady figured in No. i. 

 As autumn approaches, this vigorous young queen 

 weds one of the males from her native nest. But 

 shortly afterwards, he and all the workers of his 

 city fall victims at once to the frosts of October. 

 They perish like Nineveh. The queen, however, 

 bearing all the hopes of the race, cannot afford 

 to fling away her precious life so carelessly. That 

 is not the way of queens. She seeks out some 

 sheltered spot among dry moss, or in the crannies 

 of the earth — a sandy soil preferred — where she 

 may hibernate safelv. There, if she has luck, she 

 passes the winter, dormant, without serious mishap. 

 Of course, snow and frost destroy not a few such 

 solitary hermits ; a heavy rain may drown her ; a 

 bird may discover her chosen retreat ; a passing 

 animal may crush her. But in favourable circum- 

 stances, a certain number of queens do manage 

 to struggle safely through the colder months ; and 

 the wasp-supply of the next season mainly depends 

 upon the proportion of such lucky ladies that 

 escape in the end all winter dangers. Each queen 

 that lives through the hard times becomes in spring 

 the foundress of a separate colony ; and it is on 

 this account that farmers and fruit-growers often 



