176 ANIMAL COLORATION. 



Tsees are believed to have been acquired for the purpose of 

 reminding their foes that there is a sting in the background, 

 ^nd thus warning them off. 



But the males of these Hymenoptera are not armed with 

 a sting, though, being sometimes weaker and more slightly 

 ibuilt than the females, they would appear to have, if anything, 

 a greater need of one. 



The male hornets, however, when captured, move their body 

 as if about to sting, and against human assailants who do not 

 happen at the same time to be naturalists, this pretence is no 

 ■doubt very effective. The sting of the worker bee or wasp 

 is simply the somewhat altered ovipositor ; the workers are 

 neuter in sex, or rather imperfect females. The yellow band- 

 ing which characterises our British wasps is not confined to 

 "them ; many exotic species have the same colours, which, as 

 I have already mentioned, are often met witli in insects that 

 .-are, for one reason or another, undesirable as food. The 

 bright colours of the male Hymenoptera must be looked upon 

 ras a sort of mimicry, due to " arrested divergence." 



The matter, however, is not quite so simple as it might 

 -appear. Originally, it may be presumed, communities of 

 ■wasps, hornets, etc., consisted of males and females only ; later 

 ■on, the stunted workers were produced, perhaps, by defective 

 .nutrition. Seeing that the females and workers are the main- 

 ;stay of the wasp colony, it is intelligible that useful variations 

 -which happened to occur might be perpetuated. The males 

 principally stay at home and perform the duties of scavengers 

 in the wasp city ; and as they have no sting, it could hardly 

 be supposed that gaudy colours were first produced in them 

 •and then handed on by inheritance to the female. There is 

 ■another fact, however, which should be taken into considera- 

 ;tion. Many Hymenoptera have a strong odour: thus Pelojiceus 



