ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 131 
by the parent if not protected by the workers. If the 
young queen survive, the old queen departs with many of 
her subjects, and collects them into a dense swarm attached 
to a limb of a tree, where they remain until scouts return to 
conduct them to their new home. 
127. The wasps.—The digger-wasps are frequently to be 
seen gnawing tunnels in the wood or earth, at the inner end 
Fie. 81.—Nest of Vespa, a social wasp. Photograph by A. L. MELANDER and 
C. T, BRuEs. 
of which an egg is laid. In some species the developing 
young is nourished by food carried in to it day by day. In 
other cases the parent may never see her child, dying or 
abandoning it before its birth; but before departing she is 
careful to place within reach a sufficient supply of spiders, 
caterpillars, beetles, or locusts that shall nourish the little 
one until it becomes a motionless pupa. This stage is soon 
over, and the adult wasp now digs its way to the surface. 
Passing by the familiar mud-wasps or mud-daubers, 
whose nests are common objects under stones or against 
