100 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



wished to teach them that I was their benefactor, and 

 they soon learned this and came to meet me. If I 

 neglected to bring the sirup, they flew all around me, 

 sometimes alighting on my hand, but they no longer 

 made any demonstrations that looked like stinging. 



I one day witnessed a most singular proceeding among 

 this family. A large fat baby wasp died in its cell. 

 The mother wasp pulled it partly out and stroked it 

 with her antennae, and seemed to be licking it. At 

 this time there were a dozen or more mature wasps — 

 the queen and workers. Nine of these were hanging 

 about the cells, an unusually large number to be at 

 home, all at the same time, during working hours. As 

 soon as the mother stepped aside, another took her place 

 and went through the same motions, stroking and lick- 

 ing it ; and this in turn was repeated by all of the sister 

 wasps that were present. Then one of the number 

 pulled the dead baby out of the cell and flew away 

 with it, followed by three or four of the family, and 

 I soon lost sight of them. 



All of the social wasps, so far as is known, commence 

 the colony with one individual queen. The old queen, 

 workers, and males die in the fall, while the young 

 queens hibernate through the winter, under moss and 

 leaves or beneath the bark of trees, and in the spring 

 they select a spot to build, and lay the foundation for 

 the future colony. As the queen has the entire work 

 to do in building the first cells and feeding the larvsa, 



