394 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY chap. 



In the subterranean nest of Ve^a vulgaris only the first 

 cover to the nest, laid down by the queen, consists of a 

 continuous smooth sheet of " wasp-paper " ; after that, little 

 separate plates of this material are plastered on the outside 

 with air spaces below them, like little blisters, and, as these 

 are added all over the original cover and then also one above 

 the other, the layer below is cut away and the material 

 worked up afresh to place on the outside, or for the making 

 of new cells. To make room for the enlargement of the 

 nest, the cavity has had to be laboriously extended, each 

 particle of earth being carried out of the nest and dropped 

 at some distance from it. There is always a space left round 

 the nest separating it from the earth. The wasps enter by 

 two holes at the base of the nest. 



The larvae are fed by the workers largely on 

 Wasps honey, though to some extent on animal juices 



as well. The adult wasps also like animal food 

 occasionally, and will pursue a fly, sting it to death, and then 

 proceed to cut it to pieces and leisurely to eat all nourishing 

 morsels. Wasps are undoubtedly useful to us in ridding us 

 of many flies, green-flies, caterpillars, and earwigs, which may 

 be injurious to garden plants or field crops. 



In August, cells of a larger size are constructed 

 and DroifeT °^ *^® ^^®* comb formed, and in these the queen 



lays some eggs which will develop into queens, 

 probably owing to the special food supplied to the larvae. 

 Subsequently she lays a number of unfertilised eggs that 

 will produce males or drones. By the time these are all fully 

 developed, occasional cold weather is beginning to make the 

 wasps inactive and drowsy, and soon the new young queens, 

 who had been allowed quite amicably to live in the nest 

 with the old queen, leave it, and the drones also go 

 out to find a mate. The queens never return, but, having 

 mated, they seek out their winter quarters, where, if all goes 

 well with them, they will hibernate in solitude until the 

 following spring, each hanging herself up in some crevice, 

 holding by her jaws alone, and wrapping her wings round 

 her body. Owing to a variety of disasters, however, only 

 a small proportion of these queens actually survives. 

 The Fate of As soon as the young queens and drones have 

 the Colony, gone off, a strange scene is enacted in the hive. 



