146 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



found it was conveying larvae from the nest. I traced them in 

 their flight, and was astonished to see a Wasp enter the third 

 nest, with a larva from the nest No. 2. 



" Here there is a mystery, which time will unravel, but which 

 I am unable to determine. "Were the larvae carried off to be 

 nursed, and to add to the swarm, or were they destined to be- 

 come the food of the larvae of the nest in the freebooter 

 community ? I have several times observed that swarms 

 had deserted their nests, but have only once witnessed 

 anything which would in any way account for such a pro- 

 ceeding." 



Sometimes the Wasp dispenses with a burrow and becomes a 

 builder, placing its nest on a beam or under a thatched roof. In 

 this case the outer shell of the nest is much more handsome 

 than that which surrounds the subterranean combs, being of a 

 yellowish-brown colour, and the individual flakes of which it is 

 composed being sharply defined. They are more porous than the 

 ordinary grey flakes of the undergroimd nest, and are less capable 

 of resisting moisture. Before concluding this account of the 

 Wasp and its nest, I may mention that the character of the 

 insect has been generally misunderstood. The popular impres- 

 sion is, that the Wasp derives some especial gratification from 

 the act of stinging, is of a savage and malicious disposition, and 

 lives whoUy upon the proceeds of theft. Now, in fact, the Wasp 

 never stings, untU it is compelled to do so, either by alarm or 

 when it retaliates upon an adversary. It seldom survives the 

 act of stinging, because the secreted point of its weapon is held 

 in the wound, and in many cases the entire poison bag and 

 gland are torn out of the body together with the sting itself. In 

 defence of its home it can be fierce enough, as indeed it ought 

 to be, and cares nothing for its own life, provided that it can 

 only inflict a wound upon the enemy. 



The reader may perhaps be surprised to hear that Wasps can 

 be kept as easily as bees, and that, like those insects, they never 

 injure those with whom they are familiar. Indeed, they are 

 even less likely to sting than the hive bees, whose olfactory 

 nerves are so sensitive that they assaiilt any passenger who 

 happens to have been recently smoking, or who has used perfume 

 of any kind. Bees usually treat me very well ; but during the 

 last summer, as I was looking at a neighbouring hive, the bees 



