Marvels of the Universe 



401 



In each of those cells she then 

 placed an egg. From those eggs, too, 

 would come the first four citizens of 

 the new city. She then added other 

 cells by the side of the first four, ex- 

 tending the edges of the covering cap 

 as she built them. In this manner a 

 layer of cells soon appeared and in 

 each one she deposited an egg as it 

 was completed. Meanwhile the eggs 

 which she laid first hatched out their 

 grubs, and this queen — in name only — 

 then had nursery matters to attend to. 

 The j'oung grubs had to be fed on 

 chopped insects and vegetable food, 

 which she had to find and prepare. 

 StiU the Wasp-mother kept pace with 

 it all, building new cells between the 

 intervals of feeding her offspring. 



In the course of three weeks the 

 grubs which emerged from the first 

 four eggs deposited had grown so 

 large that their fat, white bodies 

 almost completely filled up their cells, 

 and they themselves then proceeded 

 to seal up their cells with a white cap ; 

 after which they troubled their mother 

 no more. Ten days later the cells 

 were cut open from within by the 

 sharp jaws of their inmates and four 

 worker Wasps emerged. 



That was a glad day for the mother 

 Wasp, for her powers of paper-making 

 had declined. Here, however, were 

 four young and strong daughters, less 

 in size than their mother, and sexually 

 imperfect, but like her in all other respects, for they could build new cells and were just as capable as 

 she in tending the young. Day by day new workers appeared, and soon the queen Wasp did nothing 

 but deposit eggs in the cells as rapidly as the workers could build them. 



So the city grew apace ; new tiers were suspended to those above by short pillars, until eleven 

 floors had been made. The central and largest tier alone contained more than four thousand cells, 

 and some of these were used for the rearing of at least two broods. 



At the end of the summer the Wasp city was at the height of its glory ; food was abundant and 

 the thousands of busy citizens were extremely active. About this time, too, some very large cells 

 were built in the lower tiers and extra food was supplied to the grubs that hatched within them. 

 Then there came a terrible blow to the community — the vitality of the queen Wasp became exhausted 

 and she could no longer deposit eggs. At first the worker Wasps did not realize that anything was 

 wrong, but later on they found themselves idle, having no new grubs to feed. 



Then the large cells were cut open from the inside and from them emerged a host of young 



2S 



WHERE THE WASP OBTAINS MATERIALS. 



TKis photo shovi's a small portion of a fence that is a favourite 

 collecting ground for Wasps engaged in building nests. Each light streak 

 shows where a shaving of wood, the same size, has been scraped off by a 

 Wasp to be worked up into paper building material. 



