3j8 THE PHILOSOPHY 



er ; for all the neuters are dead before the beglnnhig of the fpring. 

 The female alone lays the foundation of a new republic. She ei- 

 ther finds or digs a hole under the earth, builds cells for the recep- 

 tion of her eggs, and feeds the worms which proceed from them. 

 Whenever any of thefe neuter worms are transformed into flies, 

 they immediately afTift their parent in augmenting the number of 

 cells and combs, and in feeding the young worms, which are daily 

 hatching from the eggs. In a word, this female wafp, which in 

 fpring was perfedly folitary, without any proper habitation, and 

 had every operation to perform, has, in autumn, feveral thoufands of 

 her offspring at her devotion, and is furnifhed with a magnificent 

 palace, or rather city, to protect her from the injuries of the weather 

 and from external enemies. 



With regard to the male wafps, it is uncertain whether any of 

 them furvive the winter. But, though not fo indolent as the males 

 of the honey-bee, they can be of little affiftance to the female ; for 

 they never engage in any work of importance, fuch as conftrudting 

 cells, or fortifying the external cover of the neft. They are never 

 brought forth till towards the end of Auguft ; and their fole occu- 

 pation feems to be that of keeping the neft clean : They carry out 

 every kind of filth, and the carcaffes of fuch of their companions as 

 happen to die. In performing this operation, two of them often 

 join, and, as mentioned in another place, when the load is too heavy, 

 they cut off the head, and tranfpori the dead animal at two times. 



In the beginning of fpring, when the female wafp has built her 

 fubterraneous habitation, which is foon to be peopled with thoufands 

 of flies, {he has no occafion for the males; becaufe, in the month of 

 September or Odtober, fhe had been previoufly impregnated. The 

 males and females are produced at the fame time, and they are near- 

 ly equal in number. Like the male honey-bees, the male wafps are 



deftitute 



