AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 245 



ment to which, when its intensity and duration are taken into the account, 

 we may fairly say there is nothing parallel in the whole animal world. ^ 

 Amongst birds and quadrupeds we have instances of affection as strong 

 perhaps while it lasts, but how much shorter the period during which it is 

 exerted ! In a month or two the young of the former require no further 

 attention ; and if in a state of nature some of the latter give suck to th^r 

 offspring for a longer period, it is on their parts without effort or labor ; 

 and in both cases the time given up to their young forms a very small 

 part of the life of the animal. But the little insects in question not only 

 spend a greater portion of time in the education of their progeny, but 

 devote even the whole of their existence, from their birth to their death, 

 to this one occupation ! 



The common hive-bee and the wasp in their attention to their young 

 exhibit the same general features. Both build for their reception hexa- 

 gonal cells, differing in size according to the future sex of the included 

 grubs, which as soon as hatched they both feed and assiduously tend until 

 their transformation into pupae. There are peculiarities, however, in their 

 modes of procedure, which require a distinct notice. 



The economy of a nest of ivasps differs from that of bees, in that the 

 eggs are laid not by a single mother or queen, but by several ; and that 

 these mothers take the same care as the workers in feeding the young 

 grubs : indeed those first hatched are fed entirely by the female which 

 produced them, the solitary founder of the colony. The sole survivor 

 probably of a last year's swarm of many thousands, this female, as soon 

 as revived by the warmth of spring, proceeds to construct a few cells, 

 and deposits in them the eggs of working wasps. The eggs are covered 

 with a gluten, which fixes them so strongly against the sides of the cells, 

 that it is not easy to separate them unbroken. These eggs seem to require 

 care from the time they are laid, for the wasps many times in a day put 

 their heads into the cells which contain them. When they are hatched, 

 it is amusing to witness the activity with which the female runs from cell 

 to cell, putting her head into those in which the grubs are very young, 

 while those that are more advanced in age thrust their heads out of their 

 cells, and by little movements seem to be asking for their food. As soon 

 as they receive their portion, they draw them back and remain quite. 

 These she feeds until they become pupae ; and within twelve hours after 

 being excluded in their perfect state, they eagerly set to work in construct- 

 ing fresh cells, and in lightening the burden of their parent by assisting 

 her in feeding the grubs of other workers and females which are by this 

 time born. In a few weeks the society will have received an accession 

 of several hundred workers and many females, which without distinction 

 apply themselves to provide food for the growing grubs, now become 

 exceedingly numerous. With this object in view, as they collect little or 

 no honey from flowers, they are constantly engaged in predatory expedi- 

 tions. One party will attack a hive of bees, a grocer's sugar hogshead, 

 or other saccharine repository ; or, if these fail, the juice of a ripe peach 

 or pear. You will be less indignant than formerly at these audacious 

 robbers now you know that self is little considered in their attacks, and 

 that your ravaged fruit has supplied an exquisite banquet to the most 



' Huber, 93. 



21* 



