372 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 



bees, in that the eggs are laid not by a single mother or 

 queen, but by several ; and that these mothers take the 

 same care as the workers in feeding the young grubs : 

 indeed those first hatched are fed entirely by the female 

 which produced them, the solitary founder of the colony. 

 The sole survivor probably of a last year's swarm of many 

 thousands, this female, as soon as revived by the warmth 

 of spring, proceeds to construct a few cells, and deposits 

 in them the eggs of working wasps. The eggs are co- 

 vered with a gluten, which fixes them so strongly against 

 the sides of the cells, that it is not easy to separate them 

 unbroken. These eggs seem to require care from the 

 time they are laid, for the wasps many times in a day 

 put their heads into the cells which contain them. When 

 they are hatched, it is amusing to witness the activity 

 with which the female runs from cell to cell, putting her 

 head into those in which the grubs are very young, while 

 those that are more advanced in age thrust their heads 

 out of their cells, and by little movements seem to be 

 asking for their food. As soon as they receive their por- 

 tion, they draw them back and remain quiet. These she 

 feeds until they become pupae ; and within twelve hours 

 after being excluded in their perfect state, they eagerly 

 set to work in constructing fresh cells, and in lightening 

 the burthen of their parent by assisting her in feeding 

 the grubs of other workers and females which are by this 

 time born. In a few weeks the society will have received 

 an accession of several hundred workers and many females, 

 which without distinction apply themselves to provide 

 food for the growing grubs, now become exceedingly nu- 

 merous. Willi tbis object in view, as they collect little 



