458 IN SECT A. 



Of their Food. — The food of wasps, probably like all those animals 

 which he inactive at one season of the year, is only to be found at that 

 season in which they are active. 



Wasps have a variety of foods. They eat fruits ; especially those 

 of the sweetest and softest kinds, as nectarines, cherries, peaches, 

 pears, &G. : they are fond of meat, especially snch as liver, which they 

 can divide readily with their forceps. They are very fond of insects 

 in every stage. They are fond of sugar, and, of course, honey ; but I 

 do not know if they ever suck flowers : however, I shoidd imagine they 

 would suck such as they could get at. I have seen them on the leaves 

 of the cherry tree when those leaves were covered with a sweetish sub- 

 stance. About the beginning of October I have seen vast numbers of 

 both labourers and males on the leaves of a willow, but I could not 

 taste anything sweet on them. "When they are very strong of labourers, 

 as towards the month of September, they often make an attack on bee- 

 hives, the bees often becoming more indolent at this season, and there- 

 fore arc less a match for the wasps, which often destroy them for the 

 honey, I have seen several conflicts, but the wasps generally got the 

 better of the bees. In glass hives I have often seen wasps on the 

 combs. I imagine they rob the bees both of their honey and of their 

 maggots ; for they are very fond of such food : they also feed upon flies. 

 We see them often catching flies and turning up their bellies and feed- 

 ing upon the entrails. 



Of their Digestive Organs. — I believe the whole tribe of bees have 

 nearly the same digestive organs ; they consist of an oesophagus, craw, 

 stomach, and intestines. The oesophagus dilates immediately into the 

 craw, whose situation in the abdomen is the same with that of the stomach 

 of other animals. It is a large bag, and very thin in its coats, and which 

 holds the materials either to be regurgitated or pass into the stomach to 

 be digested. The opening into the stomach is of a singular construction ; 

 it is a projecting part into the craw, so that nothing can pass it into the 

 stomach but which must be by an operation of that part, and which can 

 be easily seen through the craw. The stomach appears more like an 

 intestine in shape, being full of circular or spiral valves, and is con- 

 tinued into the intestine without any particular structure. The intes- 

 tines make up some turns upon themselves, and pass towards the anus, 

 where it becomes larger, serving as a reservoir for the faeces l . 



has been stung, give almost instantaneous relief from the pain ; and the swelling 

 soon subsided, although the indigo had not been applied until some ten or fifteen 

 minutes after the injury had been received. This is a universal application in 

 some parts of Essex." — W. C] 



1 [Hunt. Prep Phys. Series. No. 477.] 



