110 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
siderable, amounting to several hundred ; they emerge 
from the pupa about the latter end of August, at the same 
time with the males, and fly in September and October, 
when they pair. Of this large number of females, very 
few survive the winter. Those that are so fortunate re- 
main torpid till the vernal sun recalls them to life and ac- 
tion. They then fly forth, collect provision for their 
young brood, and are engaged in the other labours ne- 
cessary for laying the foundation of their empire: but in 
the summer months they are never seen out of the nest. 
The male wasps are much smaller than the female, 
but they weigh as much as two workers. Their antennz 
are longer than those of either, not, like theirs, thicker at 
the end, but perfectly filiform; and their abdomen is di- 
stinguished by an additional segment. Their numbers 
about equal those of the females, and they are produced 
at the same time. They are not so wholly given to plea- 
sure and idleness as the drones of the hive. They do 
not, indeed, assist in building the nest, and in the care of 
the young brood; but they are the scavengers of the com- 
munity ; for they sweep the passages and streets, and carry 
off all the filth. ‘They also remove the bodies of the 
dead, which are sometimes heavy burthens for them; in 
which case two unite their strength to accomplish the 
work; or, if a partner be not at hand, the wasp thus em- 
ployed cuts off the head of the defunct, and so effects its 
purpose. As they make themselves so useful, they are 
not, like the male bees, devoted by the workers to an uni: 
versal massacre when the impregnation of the females, 
the great end of their creation, is answered; but they 
share the general lot of the community, and are suffered 
