HYMENOPTERA. 155 



Remedies for Ants. — Ants' nests are best destroyed by mak- 

 ing a hole in the middle of the nest, pouring in about an 

 ounce of bisulphide of carbon, and then closing up the hole 

 with a piece of clay. 



Wasps (Vespid^). 



The true "Wasps are social insects like the Ants — males, 

 females or queens, and workers being found in each colony. At 

 the end of the year the colonies die off; only the fertilised 

 queens live through the winter, hibernating in the thatch of 

 houses, &c., during the cold months of the year. The queen 

 appears in the spring and commences to make the nest. At first 

 only a few cells are made, in each of which she deposits a single 

 egg : from these workers alone are developed. The queen feeds 

 the first brood of maggots, giving them small caterpillars, &c., 

 chewed up into pulp. As soon as the first lot of workers are 

 produced, the queen gives herself up entirely to egg-depositing, 

 the workers doing all the duties of the nest. In autumn males 

 and females come from the brood, the former fertilising the 

 females, which hibernate during winter. The "Wasp's nest, 

 which is variable in form, some being ground nests (Vespa 

 vulgaris), others swinging aerial nests ( Vespa sylvestris), consists 

 of a series of layers of cells, one deep. These layers or plat- 

 forms are connected by vertical pillars one above another. The 

 comb and cells are made of a papery substance ; so also is the 

 envelope enshrouding the layers of cells. This substance is 

 made by the wasps chewing up decayed wood, the scrapings of 

 the bark of trees, and the green slimy matter off water, mixed 

 into a pulp with saliva : this dries into a greyish or tawny kind 

 of paper. The opening is in the under side. The food consists 

 chiefly of insects in the early part of the year, but later they 

 attack fruit, and even rob bees of their sugary stores. 



The commonest English Wasps are Vespa vulgaris, the Com- 

 mon Wasp ; Vespa sylvestris, the Wood Wasp ; Vespa rufa, the 



