30 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 
There are, as we have seen, thoroughly solitary 
wasps, and there are those that form a community. 
Between the two there are wasps that build their 
nests in close proximity—each making its own, 
however—and there are wasps that hibernate in 
companies. That this gregariousness may be of 
protective value is practically certain, but it is very 
unlikely that the social state was reached along 
this line. Roubaud’s view is that the social life had 
its beginnings in “filial associations.” Daughters 
were hatched in the nest while their mother was 
still about; if the stores were abundant and if 
there were plenty of younger sisters to supply elixir, 
then it would be easier for the elder daughters to 
see their way to remain at home and collaborate 
with their mother in the nurtural task. As Verhoeff 
also has maintained, the wasp-community is not 
the outcome of grouping, but of filial association, 
and Roubaud’s addition (toned down a little) is that 
the elixir makes the corporate life run smoothly. 
We must remember that we are dealing with 
arrangements of prodigious antiquity, for wasp 
societies date back to Oligocene ages (perhaps two 
million years ago), and are thus much older than 
human societies, There has been plenty of time for 
experimenting. 
To those who would puzzle over origins the case 
of a primitive social wasp called Belonogaster is 
peculiarly instructive. In hard times the Belono- 
gaster queen reverts to the solitary régime and 
brings up only one larva at a time. When things 
