70 HYMENOPTEUA. 



further trouble ; the care of the larva, a little 

 scaly-headed worm without feet, being com- 

 mitted entirely to the neuters, whose affection 

 for a progeny, which they have had no share 

 in begetting, cannot be sufficiently admired. 

 They work incessantly in their behalf, either 

 in providing them with food, or carrying them 

 daily in fine weather from the interior to the 

 outside of the hill, that they may benefit by the 

 influence of the sun. About the preservation 

 of the chrysalis, which is contained within an 

 egg-shaped cone of white silk much larger than 

 themselves, they are extremely solicitous, and 

 may be seen in the greatest confusion when a 

 nest is disturbed, running in all directions, not 

 to save themselves, but their charge. Till the 

 moment when the final change takes place, they 

 are constantly employed in the preservation of 

 the chrysalids, carefully exposing them to the 

 warmth of the sun in fair weather, and defend- 

 ing them with equal solicitude from the humi- 

 dity of a wet season. 



Their persevering industry is proverbial; they 

 are never disheartened by the magnitude of 



