EDGEWORTH — ON IRISH VESPID.E. 99 



basin ; then carry them home, and place them wherever you choose, 

 in a hole six inches deep, and as much broad, with some dry moss under 

 them. Let a piece of stick be fixed over the cells to which the "Wasps 

 may attach their nest ; place a piece of board over the cells, and bore a 

 slanting hole in the ground for the Wasps to go in and out ; and, last of 

 all, empty the tumbler of "Wasps into the cells. It seems to be imma- 

 terial whether the queen be present or not. Some sugar should be 

 placed near, that they may feed themselves easily during the first twenty- 

 four hours. Next morning they invariably commence to repair the in- 

 juries which the nest has sustained. Their first care is to fasten their 

 combs by a strong pillar to the transverse stick, which, I mentioned be- 

 fore, should be placed contiguous to the cells. Without something to 

 which they may attach their nest, they will not build, because, if it 

 cannot be suspended, it must inevitably be destroyed by the damp which 

 exudes from the surrounding ground. 



Few animals are so cleanly in their internal economy as Wasps ; and 

 their first care after transplantation is to clean their nest from any dirt, 

 &c, which may have fallen into it. This duty is in a measure consigned 

 to the males, who differ materially from the drones of bees, in that they 

 do not live a life of luxury and ease. These males may constantly be 

 seen flying out of the nest, carrying away dead grubs ; and often, when 

 these are too large to be carried, I have seen the insect drag its load 

 along the grass after him. 



It has often been stated that Wasps keep a sentinel. I am inclined 

 to think that V. vulgaris does not. V. vulgaris is very particular, at least 

 in a flourishing nest, that the entrance should be quite clear of weeds, 

 straws, and grass, that the activity of commerce may not be interrupted ; 

 and there is often a worker employed in cutting down these blades of 

 grass, who might probably be mistaken for a sentinel. At one time I had 

 nine nests which I had removed to within a few yards of the house for 

 convenience of observation, and in none of these could I say that there 

 was a sentinel continually on duty. 



Each Wasp takes only ten minutes, or at most a quarter of an hour, 

 in collecting wood or food. This is easily proved by stopping the en- 

 trance of the hole, and by killing all the Wasps which return, and in 

 about twenty minutes all will have returned except a few stragglers. 

 Each Wasp, on an average, appears to perform two journeys in an 

 hour. 



There is a popular story, originated by Reaumur, and sanctioned by 

 Messrs. Kirby and Spence, and others, that at the first cold of winter 

 Wasps lose all the love for their young for which they were once so ce- 

 lebrated ; and that, dragging their unoffending victims from their cells, 

 they scatter their immolated bodies round the entrance to their nests. 

 This statement appears to me to be entirely wrong. Possibly the grubs, 

 in some rare cases, may have been killed \>y an early frost, and from 

 the number of the dead it might have been conjectured that they were 

 intentionally slain. But it should be recollected that all the Wasps are 

 hatched before the cold weather commences, and about the end of Octo- 



