138 SIB JOHN LrBBOCE ON BEES AND WASPS. 



I was afraid that she was doomed. I thought, however, that 

 I would wash her, fully expecting, indeed, to terrify her so 

 much that she would not return again. I therefore caught 

 her, put her in a bottle half full of water and shook her up well 

 till the honey was washed off. I then transferred her to a dry 

 bottle and put her in the sun. "When she was dry I let her 

 out, and she at once flew to her nest. To my surprise, in 13 

 minutes she returned as if nothing had happened, and conti- 

 nued her visits to the honey all the afternoon. 



This experiment interested me so much that I repeated it with 

 another marked wasp, this time, however, keeping the wasp in the 

 water till she was' quite motionless and insensible. When taken 

 out of the water she soon recovered ; I fed her ; she went quietly 

 away to her nest as usual, and returned after the usual absence. 

 The next morning this wasp was the first to visit the honey. 



I was not able to watch any of the above-mentioned wasps for 

 more than a few days ; but I kept a specimen of Polistes gallica 

 for no less than three months. 



I took her, with her nest, in the Pyrenees early in May. The 

 nest consisted of about twenty cells, the majority of which con- 

 tained an egg ; but as yet no grubs had been hatched out, and, of 

 course, my wasp was as yet alone in the world. 



I had no dif&culty in inducing her to feed on my hand ; but 

 at first she was shy and nervous. She kept her sting in constant 

 readiness ; and once or twice in the train, when the railway oflacials 

 came for tickets, and I was compelled to hurry her back into her 

 bottle, she stung me slightly — I think, however, entirely from 

 fright. 



G-raduaUy she became quite used to me, and when I took her 

 on my hand apparently expected to be fed. She even allowed me 

 to stroke her without any appearance of fear, and for some mouths 

 I never saw her sting. 



When the cold weather came on she fell into a drowsy state, 

 and I began to hope she would hibernate and survive the winter. 

 I kept her in a dark place, but watched her carefully, and fed her 

 if ever she seemed at all restless. 



She came out occasionally, and seemed as well as usual till near 

 the end of Eebruary, when one day I observed she had nearly 

 lost the use of her antennae, though the rest of the body was as 

 usual. She would take no food. Next day I tried again to feed 

 her ; but the head seemed dead, though she could still move her 



