ing the opening. Next a foot appears, 

 followed by a fore-leg, whose first duty 

 is very likely to clean the antennae. 



The spectacle of young Vespa, with 

 only her head and forelegs visible, yet 

 industriously cleaning her face and pol- 

 ishing up her antennae, is very amusing. 

 In fact, this function is interesting, even 

 in old wasps. 



While she makes her toilet a wasp is 

 not unlike a neat tabby. She washes 

 her face and hands with her tongue, and 

 putting her paws, so to speak, in her 

 mouth, licks them clean, and, while they 

 are still presumably damp, she draws 

 them over her head, turning, that part 

 of her diminutive person this side and 

 that, much as puss does. Her wings, 

 thorax and abdomen, she cleans like the 

 bee, with her legs. 



After her first bath, apparently a fa- 

 tiguing, operation, young Vespa rests 

 awhile. Then she proceeds to pull her- 

 self quite out of her cell, and to eat a 

 breakfast supplied by the queen mother. 

 She is smaller than a Queen and will not 

 be an egg-layer, for from the first eggs, 

 and in fact all eggs laid during the early 

 part of the summer only neuters, or im- 

 perfect females, are produced. They 

 are commonly called workers, and soon 

 prove their right to the name. From 

 the beginning, they take upon them- 

 selves the whole work of the nest, while 

 the Queen Mother thus relieved devotes 

 her time to egg-laying. As only about 

 a month is required for the development 

 of the egg into the perfect insect, the 

 same cells may be used twice, and even 

 three times. They are always thorough- 

 ly cleaned, before receiving a fresh set 

 of eggs. This task falls to the workers. 

 They also enlarge the comb by adding 

 new cells. Evidently they need no in- 

 struction as to how to gather w^ood-fibre, 

 and chew it to the proper consistency 

 for use. A cautious observer may often 

 see these interesting little architects at 

 work. It is well however to choose a 

 cool, cloudy, day, as they are less easily 

 excited under such conditions. Dr. 

 Ormerod, who has carefully studied 

 wasps, thus describes the method of nest 

 building. ''When a Wasp came home 

 laden with buildino: materials, she did 



not immediately apply these, but flew 

 into the nest for about half a minute, 

 for what purpose I could not ascertain. 

 Then emerging she promptly set to 

 work. Mounting astride on the edge of 

 one of the covering sheets she pressed 

 her pellet firmly down with her fore-legs 

 till it adhered to the edge and walking 

 backwards, continued this same process 

 of pressing and kneading till the pellet 

 was used up, and her track was marked 

 by a short dark cord lying along the 

 thin edge to which she fastened it. Then 

 she ran forwards and as she returned 

 again backwards over the same ground, 

 she drew the cord through her mandi- 

 bles, repeating this process two or three 

 times till it was flattened out into a little 

 strip or ribbon of paper which only 

 needed drying to be indistinguishable 

 from the rest of the sheet to. which it 

 had been attached." 



A flourishing Wasp's nest is a scene 

 of constant tearing down, and building 

 up. AValls are gnawed away from the 

 inside, and layers added on the outside, 

 to give space for the enlargement of the 

 comb, without exposing it. When a 

 comb attains a certain size no more cells 

 are added, but another is suspended be- 

 low it. The new structure is fastened to 

 the old by a stout paper pillar support 

 in the center, both hanging free. The 

 interior of this remarkable habitation 

 is kept perfectly clean and well aired, 

 for Wasps ventilate, as do the bees, by 

 fanning their wings in the entrance. 

 Also like the bees, they have sentinels 

 who fly out to investigate the cause of 

 any unusual occurrence. At their alarm 

 the other inmates rush forth in an angry 

 swarm and pounce upon anything or 

 anybody without reference to shape, 

 size, or position in society. 



Though its beginning is modest, a 

 Wasp's nest, towards the end of the sea- 

 son, attains to an immense size, and con- 

 tains many thousands of inhabitants. 



As we learned before, only workers 

 are developed during the first weeks, but 

 later the Queen lays some unfertilised 

 eggs in the larger cells, and from these 

 the drones or males are hatched. The 

 drone is larger than a worker, more 

 brightly colored, and has no sting. He 



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