THE WARP. 145 



starvation within the nest. For the instinct of the workers tells 

 them that their labour is over, and their course is run, and that 

 in a short time they will all die of old age, so that the helpless 

 nurslings in the cells would find no food, and must perish by 

 starvation. 



At last, the entire population deserts the nest, the workers 

 die, and so do all the males, none of them surviving their brief 

 wedlock for more than a few hours ; and the majority of the 

 females die also, some from exposure to cold, and others by a 

 violent death. Those, however, that are fortunate enough to 

 find a crevice in which they can lie dormant during the long 

 months of winter, creep into it, and there remain until the 

 following spring, when they emerge to bethe queens and mothers 

 of future colonies. It is a remarkable fact that the "Wasp never 

 passes the winter in the nest, convenient as that spot may seem, 

 but always seeks some other place of refuge. The reader wiU now 

 comprehend, that whenever a Wasp is seen in the spring tide, it is 

 one of the females which have survived the winter, and is about 

 to found a new colony. Those, therefore, who pride themselves 

 on their wall-fruit wiU do well to kill such Wasps, inasmuch as 

 a single queen Wasp in spring is equivalent to many thousand 

 Wasps in autumn. 



Three species of burrowing Wasps inhabit England ; namely, 

 the common Wasp, which has just been described, the German 

 Wasp [Vespa Germanica), distinguished from the preceding 

 species by having three black spots at the root of the first ring 

 of the abdomen ; and the Eed Wasp (Vespa rufa), known by 

 the black anchor on the top of the head, and the reddish-yellow 

 limbs. 



Mr. r. Smith mentions a very remarkable circumstance con- 

 nected with the removal of Wasp grubs by the worker. " There 

 is a point which I have more than once witnessed in the history 

 of Wasps, which does not appear to have been recorded. In the 

 spring I have found as many as three nests in a bank, not more 

 than two hundred yards apart ; and on visiting the spot a month 

 or so later, I observed no Wasps issuing from the first nest, and, 

 on digging into the bank, discovered that it was deserted, a 

 single empty comb alone remaining. I then passed on to the 

 second nest, and was surprised to observe a few Wasps come out, 

 each carrying something away : at length I captured one, and 



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