OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



35S 



The neuter wafps, though the mod: laborious, are the fmalleft ; 

 but they are extremely aftive and vivacious. The females are much 

 larger, heavier, and flower in their movements. The males are of 

 an intermediate fize between that of the females and neuters. From 

 thefe difierences in fize, it is eafy to diftinguifh the different kinds of 

 thofe wafps which build their nefts below the ground. In the hive 

 of the honey-bee, the number of females is always extremely fmall; 

 but, in a wafp's neft, there are often more than three hundred fe- 

 males. During the months of June, July, and Auguft, they remain 

 conftantly in the neft, and are never feen abroad except in the be- 

 ginning of fpring, and in the months of September and Odober. 

 During the fummer, they are totally occupied in laying their eggs 

 and feeding their young. In this laft operation, they are aflifted by 

 the other wafps ; for the females alone, though numerous, would be 

 infufficient for the laborious tafk. A wafp's neft, when completed, 

 fometimes confifts of fixteen thoufand cells, each of which contains 

 an egg, a worm, or a nymph. The eggs are white, tranfparent, of 

 an oblong figure, and differ in fize, according to the kind of wafps 

 which are to proceed from them. Some of them are no larger than 

 the head of a fmall pin. They are fo firmly glued to the bottoms 

 of the cells, that it is with difficulty they can be detached without 

 breaking. Eight days after the eggs are depofited in the cells, the 

 worms are hatched, and are confiderably larger than the eggs which 

 gave birth to them. Thefe worms demand the principal cares of 

 the wafps who continue always in the neft. They feed them, as 

 birds feed their young, by giving them, from time to time, a mouth- 

 ful of food. It is aftonifhing to fee with what induftry and rapi- 

 dity a female runs along the cells of a comb, and diftributes to each 

 worm a portion of nutriment. In proportion to the ages and con- 

 ditions of the worms, they are fed with folid food, fuch as the bel- 

 lies of infeds, or with a liquid fubftance difgorged by the mother. 

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



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