%-]Q THE COMMON WASP. 



Wasps come in quest of this delicate food, and pur- 

 sue the blue-bottle flies, from whose eggs are pro- 

 duced the maggots that spoil meat. When they 

 return to the nest they distribute a part of their 

 plunder to the females, to the males, and to such 

 neuters as have been usefully occupied at home. 

 As soon as a neuter enters the nest, it is surrounded 

 by several Wasps, to each of which it freely gives a 

 portion of the food it has brought. Those that have 

 -not been hunting for prey, but have been sucking 

 the juices of fruits, though they seem to return 

 empty, fail not to regale their companions ; for, 

 after their arrival, they station themselves on the 

 upper part of the nest, and discharge from their 

 mouths two or three drops of -clear liquid, which are 

 immediately swallowed by the domestics. 



The neuter Wasps are the smallest, the females 

 much larger and heavier, 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 ob- 

 long shape ; but they differ in size, according to the 

 kind of Wasps that are to proceed from them. 

 Eight days after they are deposited in the cells, the 

 worms are hatched, and are considerably larger 

 than the eggs from which they are produced. The 

 worms demand the principal care of those Wasps 

 that continue always in the nest. They feed them 

 as birds feed their young, by giving them from 

 time to time a mouthful of food. It is astonishing 



