WASPS 341 



When this column is finished, she makes three small cup-shaped 

 cells beneath it and lays a single egg in each. This done, she 

 proceeds to make a kind of umbrella-shaped covering above, of 

 the same curious material, and then forms more cells and covers 

 them in the same way. 



Before long, the eggs that were first laid begin to hatch, and 

 three little grubs make their appearance in the cells. The queen 

 now becomes busier than ever, for she 

 has to supply the grubs with food, and 

 enlarge their cells as they increase in 

 size. This they do very rapidly, for 

 they have enormous appetites, and 

 never seem to be satisfied. 



At first she feeds them with the 

 juice she procures from flowers, or from 

 some over-ripe fruit which she has Wasp 



chanced to find, or perhaps with some 



honey which she has stolen from a bee-hive. As they grow bigger, 

 however, and require more solid nourishment, she supplies them 

 with small pieces of fruit, instead of only the juices, while now 

 and again she will take home a nice fat caterpillar, or a blue- 

 bottle fly, and divide it amongst them. 



Every day, too, she has to add to the walls of the cells, and 

 make new ones, so that from dawn to night she is always hard 

 at work, unlike the queen bee, who does nothing but lay her 

 eggs. 



As time goes on, the grubs reach their full size. Then they 

 retire into their cells, close the opening with a kind of silk which 

 they spin, and turn into pupae. In this state they remain for 

 several days, after which they break their way out into the nest 

 in the form of full-grown wasps. 



At once they begin to help the queen, and, directed by her, 

 carry on the work of building the cells, covering in the nest with 

 a casing of paper, and building strong pillars to support the weight 

 of the different tiers of cells. The workers, also, besides searching 

 the whole country round about for food, act as sentinels, and fight, 

 if need be, in defence of the home. 



