140 John.T. Ward on 



the skill of an experienced surgeon, stung so as to paralyze, but 

 not to kill. After each caterpillar was in this manner placed 

 under an anesthetic, it was then carried hy the wasp to the cell 

 and there stored, from eight to sixteen of them, packed like 

 sardines in a box. The wasp then deposited an egg in the cell 

 and sealed it up. In that way it provided its offspring with fresh 

 meat. The whole development of the wasp grub was shown 

 from the egg stage until it completed its metamorphoses and 

 appeared as a fully-developed wasp. 



Details were also revealed of the natural enemies of the 

 mud wasp, one of which was the common blue tit, and 

 particularly interesting were the gorgeously-coloured cuckoo 

 wasps, which came and deposited their eggs in the cells of the 

 mud wasp before they were sealed up. 



Leaving the solitary species, the lecturer then dealt with the 

 social species, which included the common wasp. These con- 

 sisted of tree wasps and ground wasps. The former built their 

 nests in trees in the open sunlight, and the latter below ground 

 in darkness. After describing the anatomy of the mouth parts 

 of the common wasp, and also that of its stinging organs, the 

 nests of tree wasps were described. The final part of the lecture 

 was devoted to the complete story of the building of the nest of 

 the common ground wasp, from the time when the queen leaves 

 her hibernating place at the beginning of May and commences to 

 build a new wasp city at the end of a mouse run of the previous 

 summer. The queen wasp was shown with the little nest she 

 had constructed quite unaided. It was no larger than a five- 

 shilling piece, but after her first offspring appeared it soon grew 

 apace, and eventually became as big as a four-pound loaf. 



Mr. Ward displayed astonishing photographs showing the 

 combs of the nest with their hosts of worker wasps carrying on 

 their functions. At this stage the queen wasp had nothing to do 

 but deposit eggs in the thousands of cells being made by the 

 workers. The latter carry on all the work of the nest, building, 

 feeding and tending the young wasp grubs, excavating the soil, 



